CODD (4e Quest)

Camp of Destiny (Doom)
Summary::The Camp of Destiny (Doom) is a level scaleable, tactical based combat oriented quest, focusing on wave based encounters (An advanced wave based dungeon crawl designed for all levels), very similar to a "Lair Assault"

CODD, or the Camp of Destiny (Doom), is a versatile quest, which can scale from Diminutive size and length, to Gargantuan, depending on your gaming needs. CODD has very little story base (see below), and is designed to test players combat skills to the limit, with maximum potential for fun. CODD is also easy to set up, requiring only a few game essentials to get going. To put it simply, CODD is an advanced wave based dungeon crawl. This quest is highly focused on the Power Gamer and Slayer player types, and makes use of the tactical elements in the game (such as flanking, using cover, and general quick thinking). Smart skill usage also plays a big role in CODD's tactical elements, letting you defeat some monster groups more easily. Not attempting or using skills does not hinder you (or your player's) in any way, but can be a fun added boost that promotes creative thinking and problem solving. Side Note: I started designing this during the summer of 2011 before I knew this new lair assault thing was coming out that bears SIMILARITIES with the ideas here CODD is designed to a be a humorous quest as well as a challenging, combative and tactical based one, mixing its crazy combat, morphing terrain and quick thinking with a load of funny references, jokes, monsters, areas, and odd NPC's (with even odder dialogue!). Even if you don't enjoy the actual combat part of it, CODD is designed for everyone to have fun be it with the jokes and funny references other player's make on the spot, hilarious combat roleplaying, such as charging head first into battle, or always lighting the Dwarf Paladin on fire, or even the jokes and obscure references included in the quest meant to spark even more creative and hilarious ideas to the table. Many "Watcher" players will probably enjoy this comedic aspect of CODD, and are often the ones who enter in funny references and stupid jokes to keep the laughter- and the dice- rolling, no matter what. Please note that although this quest is designed to be funny, it's really an option: you can follow the barebones killing things part of it- if you think of the average dungeon crawl, though, would it be half of what it was without jokes?  This adventure/quest is not recommended for an extremely serious or un-adaptable campaign It's probably too EPIC for you!
 * Ok, so I know your Quest is sooooo great and adaptable. But What is it really?
 * So, I don't like killing monsters or tactics, or any of that stuff. Is there anything in this for me?

The Setting
This quest is designed for the campaign setting Nor Galad. However, the actual adventure takes places in a single area underneath The Haven, a famous multi-dimensional inn and tavern designed by a man named "Willy". Due to it's multi-dimensional nature, the Haven can easily appear in any city (if the players look hard enough), and as such, this quest is completely adaptable for any city in any setting. Of course, you may need to tweak some of the monsters to fit your setting. Don't make it hard on yourself though-It's multi-dimensional: it doesn't have to come from, or fit with your setting, and your players will probably enjoy the change of pace;even your most avid stickler story tellers can't easily ignore the phrase "multi-dimensional" when it flies out of your mouth.

The Threat
Most adventures have a complicated threat- like an evil villain, amassing army, or dread cult. In CODD the only threat to the characters is the chance of them being killed by monsters, and making really bad pop culture references and bad puns while they're at it. That, and the occasional fart joked- which, ufortunately can be quite deadly, as the factor that sets off the fart jokes is always an really, really, really scary version of a angry Ancient Red Dragon. That about sums up the threat of this quest.

Adventure Summary
In the most basic setup, CODD runs like this: The adventurers find out about the COD as a "training place", where they can earn Gold and XP. Eventually, after getting tips from a few NPCs, the players find the The Haven, where they promptly are directed to a wooden trap door with the words "Camp of Destiny" painted on with yellow, with a smiley face underneath. When they open the trap door and look down, it's pitch black, like a bottomless pit. If one of the character's tries to take a closer look, the wood on the trap door flashes red skull and bones where the smiley face was, and changes to and CAMP OF DESTINY DOOM- and then the "destiny" is erased, only leaving "Doom". The group is suddenly sucked into the down into the "Camp of Destiny Doom" and wake up in a strange desert basin. This is were the main wave system starts. And ends...eventually.

Due to the nature of CODD, It is not necessary to use an introduction such as the simple outline presented below:you can very simply have the characters just spontaneously appear in the area where the quest takes place. This can include many story telling options as well, such as being trapped in the pit of an villain, or appearing in a dream state. <br? Any type of this method is simple and easy to use when playing with Power Gamers and Slayers, (or with almost anyone) who want to start the adventure right off the bat. Granted, this approach may be unappealing to other players, which is why there's a planned out introduction. And remember, there's always a mystical reason why you might end up in an wave based combat system in an rapidly changing seemingly out-door arena. Right? (Details below)

What You Need to play
A group of players, the Monster Manual One and Two, and the monster statistics shown in this Quest. Also, Player's are allowed to use ALL classes/feats/items/etc for version 4e. (unless the DM says otherwise). This is to emphasize the tactical style of CODD. You're welcome, Power Gamers...

Using Tactical Encounters
All of the encounters in CODD have some kind of tactical element, be it simply using cover, flanking, group maneuvers, or even smart application of skills during combat. Dropping silver chandeliers on Werewolf heads, or lighting and directing beacons of light across the area to weaken the onslaught of vampires can be tactical options as well.

Encounter Level The encounters in this Quest are designed to be easily usable for normal sized parties, small parties, and large parties alike, with ratios between minions and normal monsters and suggested changes that you can put into action for each encounter. Each of the Waves (the encounters) are also designed to be easily scaled around 2-5 levels upwards. After the wave has been scaled fully, a new set of monsters are provided that follow the "Wave Theme" of that wave encounter. Wave Theme is the overall feel each wave encounter is geared towards- for instance, waves 3-5 are designed around Undead creatures- a list of avilable basic themes for each wave are available in the below (unf). This is handy if you feel you'd like to add different monsters to the encounters, as you can easily fill in a theme with your pick of monsters. Wave Themes are not necessary, however, and you can easily add any monsters to any wave- the Wave Theme's is just an easy mechanic to use for setting up encounters.

Setup The setup, depending on how you wish to use this quest, ranges anywhere from very simple to very complex. Details on how to setup, and what to setup below.

Read Aloud Text The read aloud text is what makes this quest come alive- even the most avid slayer aren't going to be content fighting numbers, over and over again. There is read aloud text provided for every encounter that happens during the quest. There is also Read aloud text dialogue for NPC's, which can give a basic outline of the NPCs responses to certain questions.

Tactics As stated before, tactics are an extremely vital part of the combat encounters and overall fun of CODD- a lot of the tactics in the game also rely on quick thinking and open mindedness of players, which you should encourage throughout the game. One such example is knocking down silver chandeliers in one of the "hide outs" to pierce the ravenous werewolves below. If your players don't use tactics, and aren't very "quick on teh uptake", as it were, take necessary action-drop more hints, encourage your players to "feel around". If you really feel your players can't handle this, or even more simple tactics such as flanking, you can easily reduce the monsters levels or numbers, or even their tactics, to accommodate your players.

Map The Map in CODD changes continually throughout the quest- and not just because the characters are moving from map to map, but the maps themselves taking on morphic qualities. From desolate and calm Canyon, to Sand blasted, to obsidian rocked canyon- and then sneaking to strange and dimly lit side room, that light's up into a ballroom floor, shimmering silver chandeliers hanging overhead- stumbling out of the room to come to the same canyon- and the edge where there was was once sand, is now the oceans edge- walking through the water, and deposited in a huge metal room- these are the kind of map changes that occur during CODD.

Features of the Area The features of the area varies entirely on which map the players are in, in what stage of transformation that map is in, certain areas of the map, or whatever side rooms the players can find.

Out of Game Hooks
The simplest thing you could do to hook your players on the adventure, is by simply telling them "out of game" about an wave based combat adventure that you think the player's might enjoy. Obviously, I can't provide the dialogue for this, but mentioning it while the group is wrapping up after the conclusion of a different quest is a good option that can get your players excited for what lies ahead. It can also let you figure out if the players are interested in running CODD, or not. This approach works well for many situations, and is very easy for you, and for your players. If you use this method, it is recommended to skip straight to the action- once they know what's ahead of them, most people won't want to spend fifteen minutes searching for a trap door in a Tavern. By starting your player's off in the beginning of the adventure, with a resounding Whabam of the action starting, everyone starts having fun as soon as possible.

In Game Hooks
Many DM's like to keep their players guessing even from the beginning, and many players like to be surprised. Although it may be a good idea to run the idea of a wave based dungeon crawl by them, these in game hooks are designed to keep your players guessing and surprised. This is useful if you have more time on your hands, and you want to add more depth to the quest. With more time, it can start as an "interesting side-trek" and develop into a very intriguing and unknown battle situation. There are two basic ways to hook adventurers from this point on:

XP,Loot,Gold,or intrigue: or Waking up in "The Arena"

XP,Loot,Gold, or Intrigue?
This method follows the four main interests that all players want (even if for different reasons, such as Role-Playing, the prospect of combat, etc etc), and creates a very standard "hook" into CODD that can easily be implemented in any town the adventurers happen to be at. The "XP, Loot, Gold, or Intrugue?" method is the basis of the basic overlay shown in the Adventure Summary section.

Waking Up in a Mysterious Arena
This is a very easy and versatile method to implement into all types of games. The two basic setups presented here are "Dream State" and "Antagonist Dungeon".

Dream State
The dream state is a rather simple hook: The player's awaken in the arena- when they wake up, they all have shared the same strange dream, and somehow feel stronger from it. This simple hook has huge potential; here I've outlined a few major ideas.
 * After certain points, the player's wake up, all sharing the same dream, and feeling stronger from it. Every few levels (following the original level incremental that CODD had when it was first designed) the player's back into the dream. Each time the players fall back into this strange dream state, it gets longer and longer- try to cut the play of right before the next encounter starts, or at some crucial moment so the player's want to know what happens next. [UNF: This quest can also be introduced as a strange reality that the PCs dream about when they sleep-the characters feel like they've been fighting all night, and they don't talk about it much. This can be useful if you frequently cannot find good material, and it leaves the players in suspense about these "Strange dreams" that have, and gives you an opportunity to let them gain XP and have fun, and still be very connected to your story line. Even though CODD is designed to be scale-able, if you re-introduce the dream every time the characters reach certain level corresponding with CODD's basic level outline for waves, it can be a very fun experience.]

Antagonist Dungeon
The antagonist dungeon is also a simple hook: The player's awaken after being captured in prison, or in some strange circumstance against an adversary. The suddenly find themselves in the arena, and have to fight their way out. This can contain many story elements as well: traces of the antagonists minions, visions, and so on and so forth.

You should drop enough hints and descriptions that players should already be trying to uncover the connection between your antagonist, dream state, (and so on). A couple questions your players should be asking?
 * Where is this?
 * What is this?
 * Do I get XP for this?
 * Did (antagonist) lock us up here to die?
 * Did (antagonist) make this dungeon?
 * Is this even a dungeon?
 * I didn't know there were strange fantasy worlds where monsters spawn in thin air and then disappear off the map, which is constantly changing, did you? Nevermind, ya, I knew that.

and things like that.

The Arena
The Arena is the main "map" that the players find themselves unconscious in after opening the trap door of  The Haven  eating the sand of the first "map" of the Arena. If you chose to use Waking Up in a Mysterious Arena it will start just with your characters waking up eating sand, as well as the re-curing dream "hook". This is where the game starts. (For the dream hook, whenever the "dream" starts again, they should be unconscious (in dream state) where they left off the last time. ) You wake up in the middle of a huge sand filled arena-dark, shimmering black metallic walls stare down at you as you lay on the ground- almost like adamant- and you can see a very outline of of glowing, metal that starts at the base of the walls. As you stand up, bright lights, seeming like multiple suns flicker into your vision, blinding you horrendous light-and a thunderclap that seemed to be made by the gods themselves rushes into your head-you fall to the ground wincing-even the most tested adventurers would do the same. At the top of your sand filled vision (or if you dared to look up again), the sky turns black, and your vision dims, and when you look up again, everything is gone. You now find yourself in sand filled canyon with, dark colored canyon rocks with a treacherous slope up the sides- it looks like your only way out is towards the sand dunes you see north of you. The sense of people watching them disappears. Above you all you can see blue sky and lazy white clouds- small gusts of wind surround you, and other than the occasional scurry and glimpse of an eye, completely desolate. There are some cacti up further towards the huge sand dune you see in the distance. Thevague feeling of people watching you leaving, it seems there might be... something else.

Explore Canyon As you explore either side of the canyon you notice the fauna seems to be much more lively compared to back where you were standing only a small time ago. Your senses tingle as the phrase "Almost too lively" pop into your mind- strange visions of mutant man eating lizards cross your mind. Dune North of you, you see a vast sand dune- this sand dune isn't just vast- if a normal sand dune was huge sized, this sand dune would be Gargantuan. Strangely enough, it doesn't seem to be casting any shadows in your direction, despite the angle of the sun.

Waves
The Good Stuff Currently, I'm aiming at about ten waves-I have 1 through 6 planned out pretty well, and 7 through 10 I have an idea of what monsters and tactic changes I want to use. The goal eventual is 16 waves, although it may end up climbing higher than that. For now, I'm going to finish adding 1 through 6, and finish making 7 through 10, and I'll see where I'm at. I'm going to make a "waves by theme" table as well.

Test Wave
The Test Wave is the first Combat Encounter in CODD. It occurs when the players are about half-way to the sand dune, when they are attacked by a group of Kobold's who spring from the sand. Read Aloud Text: As you approach what seems about a mid-way point from where you started to the sand dune, you hear a rumbling noise. The noise continues on, becoming louder and louder- you can feel the ground beneath you shaking, as the rumbling threatens to knock you to the ground-the quake seems like it will never end! Ask the players to succeed on an acrobatics check to avoid being knocked prone Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant worm like creature leaps from the ground with an ear splitting screech-it arches through in the air, retaining grace, despite being at least twenty feet long and covered in acidic looking slime and with a giant circle of sharp teeth extruding from a ravenous maw-it's glowing red and evil looking eyes seem to glance at- and then the giant creatue plummets back down to the ground, it's head and body swallowed by the sand- disappearing as quickly as arrived, leaving nothing but a huge, rapidly filling, whole in the sand, and a lingering stench of rot, and acid burning flesh to mark its passing. Ask the players to make saving throw to avoid becoming deafened The hole starts shifting again- this time, instead of the strange, ravenous looking giant worm creature that leaped from the sand before, you see a group of small, scaly, dragon like humanoids slowly rising from the sand- the grainy substance pouring off their body in a rather dramatic fashion. With a fierce look in their eyes, the Kobolds unsheathe their weapons. It's on. A deep, base voice magically booms through the canyon: "Test Wave" Ask the players to roll initiative for a combat encounter

The Encounter
The encounter consists of a group of mean, powerful looking Kobolds. But very, very stupid.

Five Person Party Setup: (Level One)
2 Kobold Slingers, 1 Kobold Dragonshield, 12 Kobold Minions [XP=600] (Easy) (MM pages 167-168)
 * Options: Spiretop Drake, more Kobold Minions

Larger or Smaller than Five:
For smaller than five, only change the ratio of Minions. If the party consists of three or less characters, replace one or both of the Slinger's with Minions instead, leaving only the Dragonshield and minions for the party to deal with. If the party has limited minion clearing ability, (and any other issues that come with small parties) remember to adjust accordingly. For larger than five, adding minions is generally suitable- if the party is very very large, adding more Slinger's or Kobold dragonshields will work.

Encounter Info
This encounter is meant to be relatively bland- nothing too exciting, but it has a lot of opportunities for player tactics and minion slaying.

Change-it-up!
If you find your players are particularly enjoying the encounter and are completely decimating the enemies with superior tactics,(or, on the other hand, are completely bored with the encounter), spice things up by adding a spire top drake (MM 90) into the fray, starting combat with a fly by attack at the beginning of the next round. You can then use the Drake's initiative as normal.

Monster Tactics
Normal monsters should act on their base tactical level shown in their respective books- if you want to give your players more of a challenge, have them act at higher than their normal tactical level. In general, the minions have slightly below their base tactical level- but in a very hidden way. Have the minions bunch up in different formations- formations that won't be taken out be out fully by a at-will power, like wedges (V's), and other interesting formations. This lets you give the appearance of smart monsters, while the Players get the satisfaction of taking advantage of the monster's tactical weaknesses, while not letting the monster be too stupid and get taken out by one simple blast. The V shaped formation also limits maximum potential of close burst abilities as well, giving a realistic feel to the "ramming" groups. If you know a character specifically chose a close burst to combat enemies like this, let the character somehow become separate from the group and surrounded by minions looking at an "easy kill".

What Happens Next?
When the players finish killing the last monster from the Test Wave, the same announcer says "Welcome To Hell". If the players try to search the bodies for loot, the bodies disintegrate into green shaped + signs, giving the characters the same benefits of a short rest, and giving them 5 HP (per tier) of health. This leaves only a multitude of armor and equipment from the monsters- a spring of coins seems to come out of their mouth (like in a video game). After the players gather their loot, they continue walking to the sand dune. As they approach the "feet" of the sand dune, they hear scurrying of monsters. The same announcer then says "Wave I", and the next wave starts.

Read Aloud: Incomplete

Wave I
Wave I, the second combat encounter, happens after the "What Happens Next" of the test wave. Wave I is a rather basic encounter, focusing on animals- the Level one encounter is based on Rats, and includes some random references to H.P Lovecraft's short story "Rats in the Walls".

Read Aloud Text:

The Encounter
The encounter consists of a group of very intelligent, slightly mutated, tactic using rats, of various sizes including ROUS's. (Rat's of Unusual Size, Princess Bride)

Five Person Set-Up (Level One)

1 Rat Swarm, 3 Giant Rats, (Another level one monster), Dire Rat, Dire Rat Needler (4e Monster) (500 XP)
 * Low Level Were-Rat, Were-Rat

Larger or Smaller than Five Larger than five is an extremely easy fix for this encounter. Add RAT SWARM, GIANT RATS, and DIRE RATS in this ratio per two additional players ( don't add if it's a decimal: only add once that decimal becomes a whole number) er subject to change. I GOTZ TO COMPUTE IT!
 * Options: 1,1,1

Encounter Info This encounter is supposed to the first real challenge(ish), giving any group running CODD their first real taste of the Waves. Especially if you choose to add the were-rat into the battle, it can be a fun challenging(ish) encounter for your party.

Change-It-up! Adding a were rat in the middle of the battle is recommended if you want to add an extra element of danger to the encounter, and to give the players a little more taste of the "CODD" feel. The were-rat that appears makes use of the other rats strong flanking and movement(ish) tactics to use it's Sneak attack ability with combat advantage. It will also group up with the rat swarm (if it's still alive) to bring a strong challenge to one player.

Monster Tactics The rats are relatively tactically advanced, each following the basics of their roles, acting with humanoid Int. The ranged rat, the Dire Rat Needler will hang back during combat the whole time. The Rat Swarm is one of the main combatants in the battle- the Rat Swarm is the strongest unit, and acts as such, "tanking" an targeting one target, and moving away only when neccary, preferring to take their target head on, relying on its resistances to pave the way. The Dire Rats will switch from target to target, but they almost always move in group so they can focus on flanking enemies for combat advantage. Player's will probably recognize the need for anti movement (including shifting, running, moving). If the party makes use of opportunity attacks as well, and surrounding and flanking the enemies as an counter the battle will probably go well. Movement powers of their own will help a lot, to avoid being surrounded by the rats in return.
 * If a were-rat appears in the battle, it is doubly important that the group tries not to get flanked, as the Were rat has (or will in the modded version) have a Sneak attack equiv.