I would just like to thank Eric for putting together such a great adventure. I ran a good portion of it last night to rave reviews from the group. I had to make some changes due to the fact that I have six players in my group and most of them are running races with LA +2. No big deal at all though. I like the fact that the dungeon doesn't rely solely on monsters for challenges. In fact, the party had the most trouble with the bug swarm, which is CR 1 if I'm not mistaken. They eventually came up with a unique solution. My only worry when starting out on this adventure path (and I haven't played or DMed the last adventure path) was would the players move through it too quickly. I do have to wait for a whole month for the next issue of Dungeon after all. It looks like we'll be okay on that front, but we play every Friday, so it might be close.
Anyway, great job Eric, and I can't wait for the next issue of Dungeon to hit my doorstep.
I have to concur on the campaign so far, in addition to my PCs. I LOVE the detailed room descriptions that I read off to my PCs. I miss that from the old days of D&D, when the modules rocked.
... They eventually came up with a unique solution...
Okay, so what was the unique solution for the beetles?
... My only worry when starting out on this adventure path (and I haven't played or DMed the last adventure path) was would the players move through it too quickly...
I would like to know how you can DM a dungeon so rapidly? Granted it was our first session with this campaign and we were developing character backgrounds and leading up to the meeting at the abandoned office, but we did not even get past the wolves. We also play weekly for about 5 hours and most of the time the game play drags along. So what is your secret. I must admit that a lot of time is spent lolly gagging and basically taking advantage of the social gathering of friends but I find it difficult to get my guys to FOCUS and keep the game moving. I think I spend a lot to time waiting for them to tell me what they are doing next since I hate to Push or Guide them through the adventure. Maybe that is my problem.
Anyway, Hangfire... what is your secret for SPEEDY adventures.
Note: It appears that even the editors will not complete this adventure within a month's time and I assume they know all the secrets.
I have to concur on the campaign so far, in addition to my PCs. I LOVE the detailed room descriptions that I read off to my PCs. I miss that from the old days of D&D, when the modules rocked.
Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head. The descriptions are beautiful, really bringing the room to life. I guess another part of what I love about this adventure is the tie in with the Rod of Seven Parts. I never played 2nd edition and missed out on it, but I wanted to put it into my home-brewed campaign, and this came along...
Okay, so what was the unique solution for the beetles?
Well, they killed off the Mad Slasher while keeping the bugs busy (they let the sorcerer fight it, well be disabled by it would be more accurate) and then the cleric grabbed the Slasher body, while the swarm was devoring it, and they threw it into the open sarcophagus - the rest of the party was waiting to push the lid back on. I thought it was a pretty good solution, and they were having some kind of trouble dealing with it up 'til then.
I would like to know how you can DM a dungeon so rapidly? Granted it was our first session with this campaign and we were developing character backgrounds and leading up to the meeting at the abandoned office, but we did not even get past the wolves.
I took Erik's lead in this area and spent a day writing up character backgrounds for each player. When the session started I passed them out and everyone read them while character generation was finalized (mostly just equipment at that point).
We also play weekly for about 5 hours and most of the time the game play drags along. So what is your secret. I must admit that a lot of time is spent lolly gagging and basically taking advantage of the social gathering of friends but I find it difficult to get my guys to FOCUS and keep the game moving.
We spend some time socializing too, after all that's part of the fun of the game. Our game sessions usually last around 6 to 7 hours. As far as getting the guys to focus I've found two things that help our group. First, they really want to play the game. That's why were getting together in the first place, to play D&D. Being older I guess our time is more limited for this sort of thing, so time spend socializing is time spend NOT playing. Second, as the DM it's my job to say enough! Let's get the game moving along. I find that most of the time they're waiting for me to say just that.
I think I spend a lot to time waiting for them to tell me what they are doing next since I hate to Push or Guide them through the adventure. Maybe that is my problem.
I have to admitt that this is one of the very few adventures I can remember where the party spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. Now part of that is simply the fact that the group has gotten bigger in the last few weeks, but part of it is the adventure itself. It's nice and wide open, the party doesn't feel forced into anything (and this is the first time that I've every given my players backgrounds - usually they are responsible for writing them up). I know that they took about an hour to decide between which elevator to go down or the blue lantern area....it was quite amusing to watch.
Erik I'm glad to hear that it took 40 hours to get through the first part of the adventure path. If the party dithers like they have been I have no doubt that another three session will not get us through. I guess I'm going to have to renew my subscription (as if there was any chance that wasn't going to happen anyway).
Congratulations to Erik for publishing this long-awaited adventure. It really looks fantastic, and is exceedingly well written, from what I can tell. My only concern is that in general the encounters look incredibly lethal for a band of 1st-level PCs. Does anyone else have this concern, or problem, or do most 1st-level parties just waltz through swarms, elementals, and little thingies that suffocate you dead in just 3 rounds if they hit (no save)? Do other DMs find this sort of fare small potatoes, or am I alone in this concern?
Please understand that I'm just as tired of kobold lairs and goblin dens as everyone else, but this just seems awfully tough for a beginning party.
Congratulations to Erik for publishing this long-awaited adventure. It really looks fantastic, and is exceedingly well written, from what I can tell. My only concern is that in general the encounters look incredibly lethal for a band of 1st-level PCs. Does anyone else have this concern, or problem, or do most 1st-level parties just waltz through swarms, elementals, and little thingies that suffocate you dead in just 3 rounds if they hit (no save)? Do other DMs find this sort of fare small potatoes, or am I alone in this concern?
Please understand that I'm just as tired of kobold lairs and goblin dens as everyone else, but this just seems awfully tough for a beginning party.
Maveric, it's not your imagination. It IS a tough adventure, but not one your PCs shouldn't be able to get through if they play it smart. If you read Erik's bio at the end, you get a feel for where he got some of his inspiration from.
Having read most of it, I can tell that this is the kind of adventure in which PCs that only think with their swordarms are going to end up dead. Sadly, this was my experience when I joined a friend's game years back when he was running a Castle Greyhawk campaign. I went through about 4 characters in the first few weeks before I caught on.
Erik,
I am in the middle of reading the adventure right now and so far it looks bad-azz!!
This is the first Dungeon adventure I am running in about a year or so and I am very, VERY pleased with the detail and the monster stat layout makes it a breeze to look at!!
I plan on running a mixed group of noobs and experienced (4-6 players) starting at 1st level.
Keep up the great work.....
DE
It took us exactly 10 four-hour sessions to clear the Whispering Cairn, so I'm the wrong person to ask about how to move the game swiftly. ;)
--Erik
If I may ask, what amount of the 4 hours are spent playing the adventure?
While I love the adventure you have put together, I have a problem:
The adventure calls for PCs to be about 3rd level when they finish the first installment, but I just can't see how I'm going to accomplish this as a DM. There are traps, a few fights, and some Baldurs Gate Quest XP to hand out, but enough for 3rd level, I'm not sure.
I was thinking about sprinkling some "random" encounters here and there to help dole out some much needed XP to get PCs to 2nd level and increase their chances of survival early on. Did you do this and is this why you had to run 10 4-hour sessions? And if you did do this, what type of encounters make sense that a 1st level character can survice?
Creative Director
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The adventure calls for PCs to be about 3rd level when they finish the first installment, but I just can't see how I'm going to accomplish this as a DM. There are traps, a few fights, and some Baldurs Gate Quest XP to hand out, but enough for 3rd level, I'm not sure.
I was thinking about sprinkling some "random" encounters here and there to help dole out some much needed XP to get PCs to 2nd level and increase their chances of survival early on. Did you do this and is this why you had to run 10 4-hour sessions? And if you did do this, what type of encounters make sense that a 1st level character can survice?
You can certainly add some random encoutners to the adventure, but if a group of 4 characters, starting at first level, go through "Whispering Cairn" and accomplish all of the encounters in the adventure, they'll end up with about 4,500 XP. Enough to almost put them half-way to 4th level.
There are some really tough encounters in the adventure, but only if your PCs charge recklessly from encounter to encounter and don't stop to rest and recover.
As for our playtest campaign, we pretty much play solid for 4 hours. There's a lot of roleplaying in there, though; we've probably had 2 sessions where we just did stuff in Diamond Lake that had little to do with the adventure as written. Plus, with 7 players in the group... things just take longer. A 4 player group won't need so long.