I've never been a fan of "going to hell" or other plane-shifting types of adventures, so while I'd love to run the early portion of STAP, the second half leaves me a bit uninterested.I also dislike running DnD campaigns past about 12th level or so.
Any suggestions on how to neatly conclude this campaign early? What is a good stopping point? What points need to be covered? What would be some of the problems?
Has anyone else done this deliberately?
I've never been a fan of "going to hell" or other plane-shifting types of adventures, so while I'd love to run the early portion of STAP, the second half leaves me a bit uninterested.I also dislike running DnD campaigns past about 12th level or so.
Any suggestions on how to neatly conclude this campaign early? What is a good stopping point? What points need to be covered? What would be some of the problems?
Has anyone else done this deliberately?
there were some threads on this and abridged version of the path around here some time ago
After ToD would be a good ending point (closing the Vanthus vs Lavinia arc ) and the same would hold true for after CoBI (with the threat of the "Shadow Pearl" production finished) or after SoS .... again closing the Vathus arc and possibly closing the shadow pearls arc, if you have all the remaining pearls in Scuttlecove, so the characters feel there being no loose ends left. that would be around level 16 for the finale, but if you shorten TLD and CoBI some, and lower the end bosses challenges (especially Khala ) you might finsih the camapign with 14th level chars.
But then again, I have no problems and mature enough palyers to play on past 12th level, and in a way that takes the fun out of the game very much, because once the characters start to develop some capability, the plot cuts off ? That is, having players who are settled enough not to succumb to every notion of power abuse or grand-standing.
After SoS sounds manageable. I don't mind the power level for the PCs so much as I just find it gets to be a real chore to RUN the game, and it becomes illogical for the game world to exist as it exists in low-power form with superpowered characters running around.
I also know my limits as a DM. I've been running games for over 25 years, and I get TIRED of the high level stuff. I get sloppy and the game gets out of control.
Fortunately, my players agree with me. We like lvls 4-10 best, and are only willing to play higher levels for a short time. I'm hoping that STAP is good enough (and I expect it to be...) to hold all our interest. But having browsed through the last couple adventures, I know my gamers (15 years experience with two of the three) would not enjoy it.
Thanks for the advice, though; I'm looking for more!
I'll also be ending the path early to coincide with the release of 4E. Plus, I agree that the 'sweet spot' of D&D is around levels 3 to 12 or so.
I plan to have the shadowpearls stockpiled at the HQ of the crimson fleet. In addition, Lavinia will be held captive there by vanthus the death knight who has taken over the fleet. The heroes will confront Vanthus there for the finale of the campaign.
Hell sounds interesting, but spending up to a year to go through the several remainig adventures inthe path just for the payoff of fighting demogorgon doesn't seem worth it to me. Plus, once 4E is released, everybody's going to want to play that badly, and a conversion of the campaign would be next to impossible.
After ToD would be a good ending point (closing the Vanthus vs Lavinia arc ) and the same would hold true for after CoBI (with the threat of the "Shadow Pearl" production finished) or after SoS .... again closing the Vathus arc and possibly closing the shadow pearls arc, if you have all the remaining pearls in Scuttlecove, so the characters feel there being no loose ends left. that would be around level 16 for the finale, but if you shorten TLD and CoBI some, and lower the end bosses challenges (especially Khala ) you might finsih the camapign with 14th level chars.
With just minor tweaks, you could even make TLD the end of the campaign -- not enough shadow pearls have been completed yet, and the players stop Demogorgon's plot before it gets very far.
I would say City of Broken Idols is the best point. The party goes to the center of the Isle of Dread, defeats Khala, stops the shadow pearls from ever leaving the island, and the retires in Farshore.
You could also end after the Serpents of Scuttlecove but I just prefer the former. Depending on your view though the latter may work better for your group.
I do have to say my group did like Scuttlecove alot more than Farshore however. I just think Khala is an awesome way to end a campaign.
I would say City of Broken Idols is the best point. The party goes to the center of the Isle of Dread, defeats Khala, stops the shadow pearls from ever leaving the island, and the retires in Farshore.
You could also end after the Serpents of Scuttlecove but I just prefer the former. Depending on your view though the latter may work better for your group.
I do have to say my group did like Scuttlecove alot more than Farshore however. I just think Khala is an awesome way to end a campaign.
Ending after CoBI, there still would be the loose end of the CrimsonFleet which is in posession of several of the pearls already created and delivered. And CoBI felt pretty muchlike a "mission X" type of adventure. Go to locale, find the villain and dispatch him. Return to base. There is hardly anything personal to it, even the lead-in is pretty weak and stereotypical - and although it is a strong advanture in other parts, it simply is not a "closer" for a campaign. Khala, as a villain is almost unknown to the party before this either... no real extra emotional mileage in defeating him.
Plus, from a story-telling point of view, closing the circle of starting off with an urban + piraty setting and adventure with another urban chapter is too good to ignore. It does also provide more closure to a possible romantic sub-plot of Lavinia + character XYZ and closes the fate of the Jade Ravens if these were prominent in your campaign.
off course, personal mileage would vary
Ending after CoBI, there still would be the loose end of the CrimsonFleet which is in posession of several of the pearls already created and delivered.
Other points aside (and they were good ones), this can be easily hand-waved if the DM is planning to end here; it just takes a simple change to the background such that not enough pearls were delivered. A quick "epilogue" could also be written -- "and the party then tracked down the handful of completed shadow pearls and dropped them in a sphere of annihilation and Everybody Lived Happily Ever After The End".