Vodoni Aftermath

Greetings!
Paul Sonnier elaborated on the currently rather en vogue Vodoni thread:
"One more thought..booby trap the heck out of their sphere."
My players actually thought about mining the sphere portals (albeit those of
Realmspace and not of Vodonispace). Unfortunately the description of Realmspace
mentions that "there are always 3 200 (sic!) natural and unnatural portals open
in this crystal sphere at any one time" (Realmspace p. 3). After they found out
about this, they immediately dismissed the idea.
Now, we don't know how many portals Vodonispace has, but if Realmspace is not an
extreme exception (Greyspace has a lot less portals, but as the sphere's surface
is much bigger, they are harder to find), there will be a similar problem -
quite apart from the trouble the Alliance will have in finding all those portals
which are well known to the Vodoni. Moreover, I'm not sure that mining the
portals will help if the enemy has access to passage devices (which are pretty
much standard spelljamming equipment), as the Vodoni would just open a new
portal >somewhere<.
I don't want to dismiss the idea out of hand, though I have always wondered
about the feasibility of strategic mining or lying in wait at strategic spots.
Michael Sandy mentioned this in a recent post: "I never understood how you could
have a random encounter in Wildspace millions of miles from a planet.  You could
have a hundred ships flying as close to the same course as they possibly could
and the odds of a random encounter between them, that would put them closer than
12,500 yards, (less than 10 miles) is really low."
I had similar misgivings. What are all these Elven patrol ships good for then?
Any ideas how pirates ever manage to capture ships in wildspace? And does
anybody  have any suggestions what a good spelljamming mine should look like?
Are tehre any specific gadgets which lend themselves to such an application? I
remember that there was somthing called bone mines or such mentioned in Lost
Ships, kind of folded up skeletons ...

"Also, after having freed the crystal king, some pc's have wishes, some
have special spellike abilities, and one or two might have become a demigod."
The chapter Return of the Crystal King mentions that each member of the party is
granted a wish by the freed gods (p. 50). That's fine for the PCs, but I assumed
that the Alliance nations will have more than one Archmage at hand to cast a
Wish spell for them when the the going gets tough. Also the power of a wish is
rather limited; I can't really see how a few wishes are going to turn the tide
against the Vodoni. Also, the Vodoni have >loads< od high-level mages; the
breeders are supposed to be 14th-16th level transmuters. There is at least one
Archmage (Mongrelle), and there is no reason why there shouldn't be more.
Considering that spellcasting ability is the first step towards promotion in the
Vodoni empire (Breeders) and that there are no other attractive venues open (no
clerics), the Vodoni empire should actually have more high-level spellcasters
than the Alliance. And what Alliance mages can do Vodoni mages can do too ....
IMO, the wishes granted by the Crystal King will not be able to change the
imbalance of power. The scenario gives the guideline: "For campaign balance try
to avoid giving anything more powerful than a demi-power ability to any PC at
this time" (p. 50). A suggestion given is that "a special trademark power can be
assigned ... like invisibility at will" (p. 50). Whew, invisibility at will, I
can see these enforcers and breeders cringe and cower in fear ...

"Creative use of resources can win any battle.  (for those of you who have
played a while, remember Tucker's Kobolds?)."
Sorry, don't know that one (although I've been DMing for the last fifteen years
;-) ...)
Pray explain to a clueless berk like me.

"One group that was not mentioned in the alliance were the Kyrr.  Their ships
have the capability to grow in strength when linked up.  A second group is the
Thri Kreen.  Their thorn ships are pretty powerful.  There are many independant
races out there, that could join the alliance."

Now >that< might be an interesting option. I also think that getting as many
trustworthy (!) allies at possible should be one of the chief aims of the
Alliance.
I'm not sure, however, whether the Kreen qualify. The Realmspace, Greyspace and
Krynnspace do not list even >one< Kreen outpost. I haven't got all my  SJ stuff
at hand, so I can't check, but there was some mention of the Kreen attacking the
Rock of Bral in either Lost Ships or Skulls & Crossbones (called Crusade, I
believe), so that might be a way of getting them into the scenario.
Same holds for the K'rrrr, about whom I know even less; the only thing that
comes to mind is the Unity Ship. I have the vague impression that they are not
really nice guys .. ahem insects? Anybody got more information on this topic?
What other races would you suggest?

"Using tactics such as balled up skeletons, artificial sargassos, using
better ships with arcane improvements and armaments, charmed gravslayers,
hit and run tactics, etc. can be used.  Placing ballistas on small asteroid
bodies, that will fire when passed could be used.  Illusions can do a lot to the
enemy to confuse.  Disguise and enemy ship and watch them shoot at each other.
ETC..."

Hmmm, quite a few interesting ideas here.
- Balled up skeletons - that's the bone mines? Smells a bit of necromancy to me,
not sure the do-goody-goodies would stoop to such behaviour ... ;-)

- Artificial sargassos: that sounds nice! How do you create one? Really
interested in that!!!

- Charmed Gravslayers - Nice! Can they survive the trip through the flow though,
as I am sure the Vodoni will have either kille or charmed all gravslayers in
Vodonispace for a long time? How big are these things anyway? Can a ship tow one
or do they have sufficient motive power to brace the flow?

- Placing ballistas on small asteroid bodies: Not sure this will work in the
Web; I had the feeling that the Alliance can be happy if they escape the Web:
"If the eagle vision option is used or something the DM rules just as ingenious
and effective, only 10% (or less) of the force never reaches Vulkarus" (p. 35).
Losses can go up to 75% if no precautions are taken! I don't think that anyone
would want to go back there a spend the time needed to install the bloody
catapults! Apart from the fact that one would have to install thousands of
catapults, as the asteroids of the Web constantly change position and
accordingly there is no such thing as an often-used route through the web (this
is really the mine-problem in a different guise, isn't it?).

- "Illusions can do a lot to the enemy to confuse. Disguise and enemy ship and
watch them shoot at each other. ETC..." Hallucinatory Terrain and Mass
Invisibility are standard fare amongst my players - who needs stinking Cloaking
Helms which cost 350 000 gp and allow you to cloak for just three turns if Mass
Invisibility lasts until dispelled! On the other hand, the Breeders eagle
vision, high intelligence and familiarity with spells should do quite a bit to
quickly neutralize such tactics.  Nonetheless illusions and disguise are a must,
I agree.
Great input, thanks a lot. Don't be discouraged if I seem to overly critical;
I'm just playing the advocatus diaboli - or is that advocatus baatezui these
days ;-) - and trying out the arguments with which I'm going to ruin my player's
masterplans (I believe that PCs need a challenge - well, here is one ...)
Waiting for more good stuff
Kent