Hi Everyone,
It's my first post here and I have a question about the AOW. I'm getting ready to start the Whispering Cairn this Friday and I need to know how many players the AOW adventures are scaled for. I've of course read the adventures themselves which say they are for four players, but there seems to be some disagreement on this board that they may be written for six players (though I wonder if this is confusion due to the Shackled City hardback).
James Jacobs, any way I could get an official answer to this so I know what to do? I have 7 players so it does matter. If its written for 6 players then I'm just fine, but if its only for 4 players then I need to up the encounters.
BTW, if it is only for 4 players has anyone addressed the issue of handing out extra treasure? Its easy enough to scale the encounters to handle more players (add more minions, etc.) but there isn't much guidance on adding treasure.
Crazy Duck
Hi Everyone,
It's my first post here and I have a question about the AOW. I'm getting ready to start the Whispering Cairn this Friday and I need to know how many players the AOW adventures are scaled for. I've of course read the adventures themselves which say they are for four players, but there seems to be some disagreement on this board that they may be written for six players (though I wonder if this is confusion due to the Shackled City hardback).
James Jacobs, any way I could get an official answer to this so I know what to do? I have 7 players so it does matter. If its written for 6 players then I'm just fine, but if its only for 4 players then I need to up the encounters.
BTW, if it is only for 4 players has anyone addressed the issue of handing out extra treasure? Its easy enough to scale the encounters to handle more players (add more minions, etc.) but there isn't much guidance on adding treasure.
Crazy Duck
They say it's designed for 4 players. That said, I will tell you that if everyone is sharp AND lucky, it will work. Otherwise, you don't need to modify anything for 5 players. In my game we modified death rules a bit to make things easier, at least at the lower levels. I think we are going to make the move to action points after this next dungeon, which is something else you could try with just 4 players to help make things a tad less deadly.
edit: bah, you said you have 7 players, I misread your post :(
Some modules have too much GPs (ball room, mirror hall, and
Champions belt).
Thoes that have too little, drop in a Wand of Identify with 20 charges.
You can also give a bad guy a rod of noise.
It's like a rod of fire but with sound damage.
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I am running a group with 6 players and I am finding that as written is quite challenging. Of cousre I have not had the PC deaths that other DMs have had. We are in TFOE and they have cleared the Hextor and Vecna areas. So far, including the the WC, only two deaths.
I think that you will do just fine as written with 7 players. Maybe add one extra critter here and there.
What it really boils down to is whether your players are experienced, well organized, and can plan the character builds.
Good luck!
Creative Director
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Age of Worms assumes a group of four players. Shackled City assumes a group of six. To be honest, the difference between four and six is a matter of taste. If you like your campaigns tough, go with four. If you like your campaigns to have long-lasting characters who go from first to 20th level, you might want to have five or six or even seven players. And beyond this, it really matters what KIND of characters you have. A group of 4 clerics will have a MUCH easier time of things in Age of Worms than a group of 4 rogues, for example.
My advice is to run Whispering Cairn as is with a group of 7. As you play, you'll get a feel for what your group is capable of. If they're having fun and you're having fun, don't change anything. If they're frustrated because it's too easy or hard, start adjusting the adventure's challenges as listed in the scaling the adventure sidebars.
1st level characters are fragile and need a chance to grow. If the first adventure ends up being too easy, that's probably okay since it gives these new characters a chance to grow.
Crazy Duck and Festivus,
I highly recommend using Action Points. They are a nice mechanic that gives some nice versatility for character capabilities and, more importantly, survivability. I use the Action Points as presented in Unearthed Arcana and my players love them. Just remember that they may only spend 1 action point a round, so if used proactively at the start of a round, the player cannot use another reactively later in the same round to help with a save or skill check.
Good gaming,
Mark
I've been running AoW with 6 players. I haven't been scaling, and it's worked really well. (A couple of deaths due to player stupidity, but nothing that couldn't be fixed).
The PCs generally come into the adventures one level lower than they should be (so, they entered "A Gathering Of Winds" at 10th level, when it's written for 11th level), but the extra characters balance it out.
Cheers!
Thanks! This is all helpful. It sounds like the adventures work out just fine for larger groups (just a little less deadly). The major drawback sounds like they lag a little in experience. I guess this can be partially made up with side treks. I know I'm going to start with a variant of the popular mine office side trek (modified to make it revolve around lizardfolk, maybe I'll post it here).
Any thoughts on treasure distribution along the way, or does it work itself out on average since the party is about one level lower than expected (and hence still receiving expected treasure per level because they are lower)?
Crazy Duck
I've been running AoW with 4-5 players, recently added a 6th. They're hip deep in the Champion's Belt adventure, and for the first time I've had to scale the adventure way up, due to having 6 characters, and one of them took leadership and has a cohort. I am generally not changing the type of monster they're encountering, but adding more of them. So far, the Spawn of Kyuss have been totally ineffective (with they're utterly pathetic AC11), and the cleric and the paladin tag team to turn most they encounter anyway. If my party holds like this, I imagine that I'll have to be scaling upward for many encounters here on out.
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We started recently with 8 characters. I too used the mining office scenario to start things off (after a run-in with street thugs in Diamond Lake).
As one of the PCs is a half-giant barbarian (ECL 3), I have felt compelled to up the encounters a little bit. The goblin shaman in the mining office had an ogre with a withered arm as a bodyguard.
I doubled the wolves--and added one more. That worked out quite well, a challenge for all. (The halfling wizard was downed early and was being dragged back to the wolf den, necessitating the party to act expeditiously.)
The PCs are currently in the lantern room. They haven't activated any of the elevators yet, but when they do I am intending to use the acid beetle swarm as written--but I'm going to throw in a second mad slasher.
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At best, when I can gather a group, which has not happened in some time, it's usually around four or five. Six is a rarity. Though, I'm at a bit of a conflict. I have one person who will only play a dragon (we use the Dragon rules for chromatic leveling and), and all she really wants to do is kill a lot and gather treasure. There is another young man who pretends to fall asleep when not decapitating something or other.
Then, on the other side of the room is a young man who can play as a battler quite well, but whenever we find him presiding over a game session, it's all about plot.
The other two could care less what we do, so long as it's fun. I want to cater to each individual's tastes, but with such a group of conflicting wants and ideas, what can I do?
I have also found that AoW is a lot about combat, and until mid-way into the upper levels, there is little time for talking, as far as writen material is concerned.
So I suppose I should ask the questions. How do I cater to everyone's needs, keep the party at a nice even leveling pace, and still keep it as fun as possible?