Frozen in Time tweaks "spoilers"

[Bertrag DeepDelver]

This is my first post after lurking for a year or so. I thought people might be interested in some modifications to this excellent adventure that I used to start off my group's campaign.

We generated 4 Zero level/ Max HP cavemen apiece but each player only picked one of them to control. Not a true funnel but I was prepared to squash them in the first couple of encounters since the effort to quickly get a new character back into the game was small.

Characters were tasked by the village elders (Mother, Maiden and Crone) to steal a boon from the gods located in the demon ice. Acts of heroism are a rite of passage in this tribe. The tribe was assumed to be pushed to the ends of the earth (which is literally flat) by the other Manapes/ Apemen in this setting. The setting also assumes that all Men and Apemen are slave stock for the Immortals(elves without pointy ears) who live on the island of Atlantis (inspired by Melnibonae). The planet itself was created as neutral ground for the envoys of the elemental princes to conduct court (this is intended to reinforce the neutrality of nature and the elementals).

I wanted the players to appreciate the boon as much as the characters so I borrowed a mechanic from another caveman game(Ogg) and only allowed the players to speak to one another using words from a list they were given (17 words in all). This worked really well because it was both amusing and at the same time a little frustrating. It lightened the game for a few players who didnt know each other prior and it made the boon from the gods more tangible. The players were allowed to talk to the DM normally.

Because upon entering the Demon Ice the players would be a little bit railroaded, I gave them a choice between a combat encounter and a skills encounter which were the first two encounters the adventure came with (basically I told them one way into the demon ice ran along the forest which was populated by predators and the other was a safer approach but would require some ice climbing). Also they saw signs that the Manapes (OOruck) were going to the demon ice too.

Upon entering the demon ice they encountered an injured OOruck who spoke to them with the same limited vocabulary. They found another slain OOruck who had various coins on him from either the past, present or future. The players noticed one of the coins had a face on it that looked identical to one of the characters in the party (that seemed to really freak them out for some reason). Its worth noting that at this point the players were still not aware that they were entering a modern/futuristic structure. Also, I took out the worms encounter to speed things up.

There were big changes at the snow yeti encounter. I re-skinned the yeti for another OOruck named Karmack. The caved in room was changed from living quarters to a Holodeck (ala star trek). The snow made the Holodeck only partially operational. Karmack monologued with the PC's but its mostly gibberish except words from their list. The Holodeck "mind blasts" them with a DC 20 will save and stunned them while it downloaded (think Matrix) language and some modern skills (I wanted to see someone make their save so they could continue playing a caveman but no such luck). Karmack and the players now both have language and sophsitication(The Boon of the Gods). The OOruck also were sent to the demon ice by a prophesy to empower themselves to overthrow the Immortals. Karmack isnt convinced the PC's are worthy of the gift and initiates various challenges with the PC's using the Holodeck to test their worthieness.

The First Challenge was for the player who seemed to be leaning towards playing a cleric. Up to that point in the game I had not asked the players to commit their characters to an alignment. The player chose Law and was challenged to debate Karmack about the virtues of law in front of a gallery consisting of the Lords or Light (Thundarr reference) and the Courts of Chaos. The challenge was won by another player when she interjected with an argument that was ambiguous and both sides thought was in their favor. In this campaign I intend to not simply allow Law to be good and Chaos to be evil. Law is more about status quo, tradition and rigid hierarchies where Chaos allows for individual freedoms, individuality and opportunity. In addition (because the Immortals are Timelords and time travel is built into this setting) Law aligns with stopping time and Chaos with rewinding(past) or advancing(future) it. Siide note- Law does not exist at the beginning or end of time, only in the middle.

Second Challenge was a staring contest between Karmack (Me) and the PC most likely to be a thief (my wife). We literally did this and luckily she cheated (made a motion to my eyes inducing a flinch). She makes a great thief (even when she is supposedly playing a paladin).

Third Challenge was an All Star wrestling match with the warrior type(my brother likes wrestiling so i obliged). Karmack body slammed him and won the challenge. He had second thoughts about being a warrior and is leaning toward mage now.

Fourth Challenge was a flying joust on giant pink flamingos (a nod to Count Brass and the video game Joust). Karmack also was victorious.

In the end he left the PC's to their destiny because they showed him the coin with the rogues face on it (I rewarded luck for that). He tells them there is something further down the structure that they must see but does not reveal it. He then leaves via the collapse to go back to his people to presumably deliver the boon of the gods (language). Im sure he will be back in another time.

This ended our first session. Players chose their class and leveled up. I also allowed them to read the scroll they had been carrying all along (given by the Mother, Maiden and Crone at the begining of the evening). Its was actually the book cover from Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces". I wrote the actual book summary out because I wanted the players to see some of the meta-game thoughts I have for their campaign but also it will have in game effects (eternal champion nod) as the players will soon find out.

More to come.
-S

[podweasel]

I like what you've done with this so far, look forward to hearing more.