Improve SKT With These Easy Steps
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- čas přidán 9. 12. 2021
- If you're prepping SKT for your party, I've made this short video to summarize on what you can focus on to run this wildly disorganized adventure.
Get the Kraken's Gamble here: www.dmsguild.com/product/1982...
You should probably get this too: www.dmsguild.com/product/1953...
I also stream here: / gammarayz - Hry
Fascinating how few key adjustments here and there would remarkably flesh out SKT.
Had a great experience running chapter 3 and it was my favourite part of the campaign. However also probably why our skt game ran for two years. Lol.
Lol, I managed to run 2 skt campaigns in the span of two years so I guess I'm not the long haul type of dm at this point in time. 😅
This is probably the single best video on how to run SKT that I have found after perusing dozens of videos. Thanks so much!
thanks a bunch friend!
@@gammarayz1 absolutely
Great video my broski! Love the editing and how straight to the point you're getting through some of the improvements that could be done
I really liked Nightstone.(and Chapter 1) The city battle was incredible; Townies, bandits and PCs with a common enemy and no clever solution other than hard steel.
The goblin cave is deadly; and parties will struggle to stomach taking a 'loss'(not conquering with strength of arms) against a threat so early in the campaign, but conversely be better able to empathize with the small folk who suffer under the giant's upheaval.
Chapter 3 has a pretty easy solution built in to it. There are wandering Hill Giants everywhere, that makes tracking to their home base simple and puts a quest item in party hands without instructions. Adding Harshnag will put the party at The Oracle and like so many video game quests, you will already have the item when The Oracle asks for it.
Then you're in Maelstrom, and then eventually, to Yartar.
I absolutely love the idea of the tracking the hill giants to their stronghold in the early part of the campaign! It's really the simplest solution to that infamous chapter I don't know how i didn't think of it before!
I envisioned Guh's small society to be far less organized, Log and Ogg (described on page 51 of SKT's) can't even find their way back to Grudd Haug on their own if prompted to. They're too dumb; and suffer too short a memory. I imagine this may be why the Goblinoid's are so crucial to Guh's set-up. They likely act as a network of delivery men and Scout's, doing the mental heavy lifting for the Hill Giant Raider's.
I think I'll add another step to the "puzzle" you presented to your player's in finding Grudd Haug, tracking the Giant's meandering trail would be an opportunity for me to emphasize the lacking intellect of the Hill Giant's. Then the trail could end in an abrupt horrible mess, where the Goblinoid's dug through the Giant's sack for anything useful or edible; and the two trail's diverge from there. With the Hill Giant's meandering path suddenly changing, pointed toward the nearest settlement... before it inevitably got distracted.
The trick to this would be the player's actively tailing these "Goblin Patrol's" to their storage facility. Which gives you a chance to showcase this wasn't a singular event, but a developed organized behavior on the Goblin's behalf. Doing all they can to make the most of their dim witted, brawny allies.
I like your funny words, magic man.
Finally someone says true opinion about chapter 3. I am so sick of DMs that admire this stupid sandbox chapter of random location. You pay for the book and half of the campaign is not even connected to the plot.
Thank you for saying wise and straight words.
Everyone's is keep praising this adventure, but it's broken af. No logic, no interesting villain, no chance to truly stop the Giant chaos (cause Ordening is still broken). Four chapters of messing around until your players either lost or bored.
Thank you for this video!
If you pay for an adventure, then that adventure should be written as best as possible. Its really unfortunate how many changes you need to make so this adventure can stand on its legs.
however, if you can put in the time and effort, this becomes an unforgettable campaign full of amazing moments.
Thank you for this comment and if you have any more questions just let me know
@@gammarayz1 Totally agree with you. I have ran Tyranny of Dragons and the book is such a disaster. No normal hooks, no interesting villains, first half is boring and the finale is just a huge disappointment.
Interesting theme without mechanics or quality adventures. I had to fix literally every chapter to make it work whole.
I have also read Dragon Heist and thought that was a joke.. You don't even have a heist there. Just 4 parallel plots, that can't even be played together without fixes.
I am running SKT right now. I really love the theme and even read the Giantraft setting book. Is it hard to make a decent adventure about giants and sell it, especially when you have 50 years of experience in this business?
Btw, if you are interested. I switched from DnD 5E to Level Up Advanced 5E. Great system, that takes best from 5E and Pathfinder. Highly recommend you!
@@sonder_ua I can't really speak on Dragon Heist. My only experiences with Wotc campaigns have been SKT Phandelver and Dragon of Ice Spire Peak
All three needed heavy changes to make them functional
Phandelver wasn't a sliver of a challenge to anyone after they survive the Dark Souls 1 inspired Cragmaw Hideout. Fun fact, the monster that's TPK'd the most parties is the Bugbear in that hideout lol.
I'd be interested in looking at level up 5e but I've already made the jump to pf2e and let me just say the difference is stark haha.
@@gammarayz1 Yeah, Phandelved was my first campaign too. Ran it like 6 times and made huge changes.
That bugbear really did one TPK in my game too :)
Now I am running Shattered Obelisk and remastered Phandelver somehow became even worse than original.
I have played Pathfinder 1E once. Really liked it. I have PF2 Starter Set, but only planning to give it a chance.
@@sonder_ua 5E is my first foray into ttrpg's so I literally haven't played anything else before that.
If you want to give pathfinder 2e a try I would suggest playing the beginners box by the letter as best you can, it really does give you a good way to slowly learn the game. Also, I know this doesn't sound right but the game really does work RAW, there's no need to fix anything especially if you just started it, you can ofcourse tailor it to how you want to play after you figure out what works for you and what doesn't.
يعطيك العافية على المجهود و ال editing
I was pleasantly impressed with this video! You deserve more views. A couple questions / feedback that might help me digest:
1. You had a great structure of information broken out by chapter. Having the time stamps in the description would be nice.
2. Would you be able to make videos in about this length for each of the chapters? I'm halfway through my campaign so I don't care too much about 1-4 but would love more in-depth suggestions for how you make sure the first entrance to Maelstrom goes smoothly.
3. Having some on-screen text in bullet form of the main point(s) for each chapter would be a nice quality of life upgrade.
4. I think this video works best for people starting the campaign for the first time, so making the title more clearly directed to new DMs to SKT (7 Tips you need before starting SKT or something) would help me understand what I'm getting into.
5. What should I do if my players want to kill Slark'rethel? Do you think it's feasible to make it a post-campaign dungeon?
I'm glad you enjoyed it! In reply to each of your points:
1) I'll be working on time stamps asap
2) yes, I'll be making videos for each chapter in this same format. I don't want to be late for your maelstrom debut though, so in the meantime, check out this thread:
www.reddit.com/r/stormkingsthunder/comments/rdndwk/improve_skt_with_these_short_steps/?
Someone already asked me about it there and I detailed my specific scenario for it.
3) I'll try that out for my next video
4) sure thing!! I'll title the next videos more appropriately.
5) yes it is feasible. Long story short, my first group beat slarky at level 9 with potions of giant size alongside hekaton and serissa. (serrisa needs a magic weapon tho FYI)
Thank you very much for this feedback!! I'll make sure to use it in the future!
Great video! I'm a new DM and I'm glad knowing that I made some of the same changes you did. Currently DMing to a party of 4: cleric, paladin, rogue and fighter.
1. I did run Nighstone and Zephyros tower, but with a twist and a half. The encounter was with kraken cultists, battle ensued and I had one of them carry a golden goose coin, they still don't know anything about it. A few hours before arriving at Goldenfields I made a storm giant show up on a Roc, he talked to Zephyros in private about king Hekaton, queen Neri and the whole thing, the players managed to overhear a thing or two and put things together. However, that's when Iymrith(that was following the storm giant) attacked the tower alongside some gargoyles. Of course I never expected them to fight the dragon, so I had them protect the navigation orb from the gargoyles while the giants handled the dragon. TLDR: dragon went after the storm giant in the distance, orb destroyed, tower smashed to pieces, they used all of the fairy dust to fly before reaching the ground(or zephyros saving them with a fly spell).
2. We're just finishing Goldenfields, I plan to give them some of the NPC quests, which will probably take them to waterdeep and them further north. I'll eventually bring in some of the major points taking them either to Yartar or towards Harshnag, since I don't them wandering too much during chapter 3. And I guess I should take a look at Krake's Gamble, thanks for the tip!
There's one thing that I might change: I just think it's a big waste of material going through a single giant stronghold, especially because I'll probably play this campaign only once with this group(the only one I have). My idea is to make the teleportation conch work with a single creature only. Forcing them to tackle multiple strongholds. The travel problem can be solved at some point after the eye of the all father.
Sorry for the long comment, just wanted to share the ideas that someone else might like. Btw, I did get some of this stuff from around the internet, just saying.
hey there.
I'm so sorry for the late reply I have been overwhelmed a bit with life but I'm back now.
Your scenario for Zephyros was almost another way I would have wanted to do it but didn't, it's really good and helps with the set up a lot.
Be careful with the npc quests cuz they can invariably send your players on a goose chase that doesn't lead to any important story progression until they meet Harshnag.
About the giant strongholds, I really understand what you mean by that but it will get very repetitive really quickly. (go in, find conch, get out. dont find conch, kill big bad, find conch in pocket, conch broken, leave, go to another stronghold, rinse repeat)
you can flesh out one or two of the strongholds at most but after that your players have to move on. You can use the remaining strongholds as one shots where you narrate that different parties all over Faerun have been trying to deal with the giant threat and work on it that way. It will allow you to still move ahead with the story and also give your players great one shots to try out other characters in the future.
No problem mate I love long comments :D really wish I could've replied earlier though :(
@@gammarayz1 Hey, no worries! I see what you mean about getting repetitive.
Maybe I'll let them tackle the Hill Giants stronghold since they are going to Amphail and that will enable the old tower encounter. I can probably make the conch just not work since Guh been sitting on it, and by the time they reach the eye they'll find out about it and tackle another stronghold.
One idea is to tackle the other strongholds after saving(or not) Hekaton and Iymrith is still missing, that should give them a few levels since I plan to make Iymrith as deadly as possible for the final battle.
@@iTiozao That's a great idea, have beneath Guh be a giant shattered seashell which could get them thinking about how the hell is there a giant seashell here? That'll be fun for when they realise that they need one in good condition haha.
Instructions unclear: became the champion of the allfather 10/10 would grapple again
My players are enjoying the exploration.
I'm glad to hear that!
I had a lot of trouble making exploration and travel interesting for several different reasons, most notably was the fact that I was completely new to d&d at the time.
ah i just started dming SKT and i had this feeling that nightstone was a complete waste of time, i did some tweaks with zephyros i had him teach the players about all what they need to know about the giants and the ordening.
i introduced harshang after they cleared triboar from the fire giants and he told them plain and simple we need to go to the eye so we can have a better understanding about the current situation but before we go we must collect these offerings and deal with the giant lords at the same time, so he guide the player toward the hill giant first and we had small montage before reaching the hill giant dungeon ( 10 encounters that fit the environment from chapter 3).
gonna do the same for the rest of the lords and after 5 or 6 sessions of bonding with harshnag and dealing with the lords they will go to the oracle where he will sacrifice his life for the party to get out.
Oh man, you have a long journey ahead of you but it'll be a lot of fun.
Just keep in mind the teleportation conches if the party moves in on the giant lords early and you should be fine.
My players AND myself Hated chapter 3. it did get muddled and they forgot what the whole point was.
we are now on our way to Yartar and do a little gambling.
Yartar is a great place to get the adventure back on track, use the kraken's gamble and you'll be golden! Hope it all pans out for you guys!
Great stuff, short and straight to the point. Most videos on SKT have been a bit boring like a bad lecture.
How did you have the group find Harshnag? And where? and tips or advise on that?
Thanks! I was aiming at short and consise for this and I hope to keep that up for the future.
The first party I ran they were looking for Harshnag in the north, near the ten towns. It was night, a blizzard was blowing heavily and they were looking for shelter. Suddenly they hear a loud booming voice coming 40ft from their right.
"I lost the Kin slayer" it says in giant.
A reply comes shortly after "we will find that traitor even if it takes our life time to do so"
While the party was hidden in the snow because they didn't want to fight. A Boulder flies out from the distance and crashes into one of the frost giants, who turns and yells out "Kin Slayer!" and the party then sees a third frost giant silhouette crashing through the snow and it swings a great axe on the giants.
Seeing this the party jump out and begin attacking the 2 frost giants and their hidden pet young remorhaz to help harshnag. A grueling battle later, they befriend him and head towards the Eye.
My second group had a similar encounter while searching for him in the north, they heard clashes of steel and roars of might in the darkness of the night and. They rushed to see 2 frost giants and a winter wolf attacking a frost giant with a white dragon skull helmet. They charge in to help.
I found it easy to Jumpstart a. Friendship through all the rumors they heard of harshnag, basically confirming that he will always fight other giants. So both parties quickly realized who it was jumped in to aid him.
Glad you enjoyed this video and I'll be sure to keep making these in the future. I've got lots of little ideas for this campaign and I'd love to share them!
What do you think about running all 5 giant lords instead of only 1? They would arrive at the final battle with Ymrith lvl 12.
I would personally think that running all 5 would be over kill.
It can be done under certain circumstances, either by completely removing the conches or by having it be diplomatic missions gone wrong with storm giants by their side.
A nice middle ground imo would be to run one giant lord, find a broken conch that doesn't work, which lets you run another giant lord in which the party finds a working conch and then they get teleported to Maelstrom.
You can always run the remaining giant lords as one shots or mini campaigns with other characters to simulate how the whole world was trying to stop this threat.
@@gammarayz1 thanks for the feedback, the broken conch ideia is really interesting and adds more depth to the giant lords I'll run it
@@ChicoSouzaJr good luck friend and hope you guys have a lot of fun!
Awesome video! I am about to finish LMOP with my group and roll into SKT. I was wondering if you could include what levels your party was at for each encounter? I want to take my players to level 20 and was going to roll from SKT into Out of the Abyss possibly. Do you have any suggestions for what you would do after SKT and what level you would end the party at? Great videos by the way!
Thanks for watching friend! And sure thing, here's my party levels
I had 2 parties, so I'll be listing them one after the other. A party of 5 and a party of 3 respectively.
Triboar: lvl 5:5
Ch3:lvl6:6
Harshnag: lvl 7:7
Eye of the all father:lvl 7:7
Giant strong holds: lvl 8:8
Maelstrom: lvl 9:9
Hekaton search: 9:9
Vs Iymrith: 10:10
After iymrith: 11:11
*adjusted encounters for party numbers*
I ended both parties at 11
And I'm not sure what to do after SKT but here's an idea.
You can go after the kraken Slark. Set up a continuation of skt by having Slark ramp up his dominion over the seas, he invaded and destroyed maelstrom while hekaton and his army and players went to fight iymrith.
You now have a nautical adventure where your players can go from island to island trying to find his lair and slowly but surely whittle down his cultists.
You prince's of the apocalypse maybe if u up the encounter difficulties.
And tomb of annihilation if u want the party to meet artus climber lol.
I don't have any idea what into the abyss is about so I can't help u there friend.
I've already uploaded how I'd run Triboar, so be sure to check it out!
@@gammarayz1 great ideas! If we get to it, I totally love the idea of chasing the kraken and defeating him and washing up on the island of Chult to do some encounters from tomb of annihilation. I even have a tortle in my party who is from Chult. I might include more about Artus Cimber and “gift” them some raise the dead spells just to take some of those lives away.
Hey, great advice, thanks! Do you have any experience with the other third party module, The Flying Misfortune? I have two separate parties in the same world going through SKT, so I'm trying to give each group a unique story with the same conclusion.
Thanks! I'm glad it's helpful. I personally don't have any experience with the flying misfortune but I did try the adult blue dragon encounter on dnd beyond by James Haeck and that worked amazing and was extremely tense.
I gave both parties the same direction and quests but each party made it their own especially in how they rp'd with the giants at maelstrom
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