The Vault of Darom Madar
I wanted to try my hand at DMing an Adventure. This is my first time DMing PBP, so i am going to run the Module The Vault of Darom Madar. Depending how it goes it may be a one and done or may continue. As it is a published adventure, please do not read it or metagame it.
Adventure Information:
There is bitter and often bloody rivalry between the great merchant houses plying their trades within the vast city states of the Tyr region. The often unscrupulous members of these hereditary merchant consortiums sell anything and everything from food,
water, and other survival essentials to humanoid slaves fit for serving in a noble estate or fighting and dying in the arena.
Occasionally, two merchant houses become successful and wealthy selling the same goods. This usually leads to a bloody war between houses for control of the commodity in question. So it was centuries ago with houses Madar and Tsalaxa. Both houses
controlled the majority of the livestock trade in the Tablelands, where they dealt in the finest specimens of erdlu, kank, and mekillot. House Madar, led by the clever and even-tempered Darom Madar, was content to share the marketplace with their primary competitor. Virinus Tsalaxa, a twisted defiler and elder of House Tsalaxa, was not about to share the wealth with anyone.
Determined to control the livestock trade absolutely, House Tsalaxa used a large portion of its considerable wealth to hire skilled assassins. House Madar was completely unprepared for such aggression, and by the time it managed to organize even a
semblance of defense, half their number had been methodically exterminated. By destroying House Madar, Virinus Tsalaxa eliminated his sole competition in the livestock trade. He hoped to go beyond that and gain control of House Madar’s considerable wealth.
Even though Darom Madar could not prevent Virinus from accomplishing his first goal, the leader of House Madar was dead set on preventing his villainous rival from accomplishing the second. Mobilizing what remained of his house, Darom Madar had every bit of material wealth taken from the Madar Estate and hidden in a deep vault in the Canyon of Guthay. Soon after, Tsalaxa assassins killed Darom Madar and everyone else of his house, and his line ended. Knowledge of the secret treasure
vault’s location in the Canyon of Guthay died with House Madar and has remained a secret over the centuries … until now, that is.
Applications:
Athas is an unforgiving wasteland.
Characters start at level 1 with Standard gold. Also note equipment: Metal is extremely rare on Athas. As such most heavy armors and the like are of hide and chitinous plates.
Character Name: Your character's name and one sentence your character might say.
Race: Restricted to Dark Sun Races
Dwarves are short and stocky demi-humans who are single-minded in their pursuit of a task. They differ from standard dwarves in that they are completely bald and have no body or facial hair.
Eladrin (added in 4th edition) - An isolationist race of veiled warriors clinging to their dying homeland.
Elf - Distinct from traditional elves not only in flavor (often thieves and marauders) but also physically. They are taller than traditional elves and known for being able to run long distances. They have shorter life spans compared to elves of other worlds, and live for the moment...there might not be another.
Half Elf & Human: More like normal.
Half Giant (Goliath):More intelligent than their counterparts in other worlds, but with a tendency to change personalities over time. They were magically created by the sorcerer kings from giant and human stock.
Halfling - Generally known for being savage, often cannibalistic, tribal people. However, there is an ancient community of Halflings with a civilization based on life-shaping.
Mul - A dwarven-human hybrid, they are able to work for long periods of time without rest, making them the most valuable of slaves
Thri-Kreen - A race of savage mantis people, formerly appearing as monsters in other settings.
Tiefling - A demon-cursed race of bloodthirsty desert raiders
Dray (Dragonborn) : Mercenary Race Created by Dregoth and live in New Giustinal.
Genasi - A nomadic people living in isolation in the deep desert with ties to the elementals. If Genasi is chose Dark Sun racial variants available are: Sunsoul, SandSoul, Embersoul, Firesoul, Earthsoul, Windsoul.
Classes: No divine classes, this is Dark Sun after all, the gods are dead. No vampires either (Personal Dislike of class)
Note that in Darksun, Arcane Casters have a stigma. Dark Sun uses the Preserving/Defiling mechanics.
Wizardly magic derives directly from the life force of the surrounding ecosystem. Defilers have no qualms about exploiting the environment, as every spell they cast sucks the life from the surrounding area and turns it into a sterile wasteland. Defilers are considered evil; surrounding areas of vegetation turn to ash whenever a defiler prepares spells, which explains the current barren state of the planet.
Preservers take special care when preparing spells and only extract as much energy from the environment as they need, thus avoiding the sterilizing side effects. Striving to wield magic in harmony with nature, they cause no damage to the environment when they cast spells. Virtue comes with a price however, as preservers advance in level at a much slower rate than the self-serving defilers. Preservers and druids have a negative view of defilers, but both preservers and defilers are relatively rare.
Themes: Dark Sun Themes Only. They may or may not impact how you are treated.
Backgrounds: Dark Sun Only. also list benefit taken:
Alignment: No Chaotic Evil Characters (wont follow this to strictly, just gives me an idea of where the char's compass is pointing)
Description: a short paragraph about what your character looks like, Images are acceptable but still would like a verbal description to accompany it.
Personality: your characters personality and outlook on things. What motivates your character to do things.
Background: A few paragraphs about who your character is.
Character Summary: Please post a character summary.
Here is an example: (Please note, My example is not from a Darksun Game)
Ash Cinderstroke, Dragonborn Sorcerer
Init +2 HP 40/40 Bloodied 20 Healing Surge 11 (0 used /7)
AC 20 Fort 17 Reflex 13 Will 17 Speed 6
Str 19 (+4) Con 13 (+1) Dex 10 (0) Int 10 (0) Wis 9 (-1) Cha 19 (+4)
| Melee Basic Attack Standard Action, At will, Melee, Target 1 creature Attack: +9 vs Armor Class, 1d8+5 damage Source:PHB |
| Dragonfrost Standard Action, At-Will, Ranged 10, Target: 1 Creature Attack: +8 vs Reflex, 1d8+9 cold damage and push the target 1 square Special: This can be used as a Ranged Basic Attack Source: PHB2 |
| Burning Spray Standard Action, At will, Close Blast 3, Target: Each Creature in the Blast. Attack: +8 vs Reflex, 1d8+9 fire damage Source:PHB2 |
| Tempest Breath Standard Action, Encounter, Close Blast 3, Target: Each Creature in the Blast. Attack: +8 vs Reflex, 2d6+9 acid damage and the target cannot gain target advantage against any creature until the end of your next turn. Dragon Magic: You gain Concealment until end of next turn. Source: PHB2 |
| Flame Spiral Standard Action, Encounter, Close Burst 2, Target: One, Two or Three Creatures in the Burst. Attack: +8 vs Reflex, 1d10+9 fire damage Effect: Until the start of your next turn, any enemy that enters a square adjacent to you or starts its turn there takes 1d6 fire damage. An Enemy can take this damage only once per turn. Dragon Magic: You gain Concealment until end of next turn. Source: PHB2 |
| DragonFlame Mantle Immediate Interrupt, Encounter Trigger: You are hit by an attack Effect: Gain +1 power bonus to all defenses, and any creature that hits you with a melee attack takes 1d6 fire damage. Source: PHB2 |
| Scales of the Dragon No Action, Encounter. Trigger: Become Bloodied for the first time in an Encounter. Effect: Gain +2 Armor Class until the end of the Encounter. Source: PHB2 |
| Dragon Breath Minor Action, Encounter, Close Blast 3, Target: Each Creature in the Blast. Attack: +8 vs Reflex for 1d6+1 fire damage. Source: PHB |
| Lightning Breath Standard Action, Daily, Close Blast 3, Target: Each creature in the blast. Attack: +8 vs Reflex. 3d8+9 lightning damage. Miss: Half Damage Effect: Until the end of your next turn, whenever an enemy hits you with a melee attack, you push that enemy 1 square. Effect Dragon Magic: That enemy also takes 5 lightning Damage Sustain Minor: The effect persists Source: PHB2 |
| Staff of the Warmage +1 Free Action, Daily (Item), Trigger: Using a power that is a blast or burst effect. Increase the size of the blast or burst by 1. Source: PHB |
| Cloak of Resistance +1 Minor Action, Daily (Item) Effect: Gain resist 5 all until the start of your next turn. Source PHB |
| Dragonborn Fury Effect - While bloodied get +1 racial bonus to hit. |
