Hey all,
I could use a little help. I'm currently in the process of setting up to begin the Age of Worms adventure path. Although I've DMed before, I've always run my adventures free-form, and this will be my first attempt at running a pre-published module.
I'm totally psyched with all the material and the adventures, but several things are worrying me, primarily, experience and levelling in a pre-published adventure.
Before now, I ran adventures on a weekly basis, for short periods, doling out xp at the end of each session. For the AoW, I'm instead running a once a month session, for a larger number of hours, and hoping to get more accomplished by doing so.
My worry for the Whispering Cairn is on how I manage my XP. Asside from the fact that if all encounters and monsters in the adventure are taken on, the XP puts them dangerously close to 4th level, and that's WITH 5 players instead of the recommended four. (If I'm missing something there, please enlighten me) I am trying to work out WHEN to give out XP in my game.
Should I hand out xp after every fight, and accept that the players will retreat to study and learn their new abilities when they garner enough XP to do so. Should I give xp whenever the characters DO retreat and have enough downtime to study and ready their new abilities. Or do I give XP at the end of each 'section' of the adventure path.
That's my worry with Whispering Cairn.
Three Faces of Evil is a little more worrying. While there is plenty of XP to be had in this module, the chance to retreat from the complex and have the down time necessary to level abilities seems to be negligible to non-existant. It looks like the players need to rush all three sections in one fell swoop, leaving them completely bereft of any consumable abilities, and also leaving them at level 3 when they complete the monstrous dungeon crawl, and then suddenly gaining an enormous amount of experience.
I could really use some help figuring out how to level my PC's during these pre-published adventures, and also any insight into Three Faces and how PC's can arrange for downtime, or have done so in your campaigns if you're along that far, would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much for any and all help,
A newer DM,
Tim Austen
Hey all,
I could use a little help. I'm currently in the process of setting up to begin the Age of Worms adventure path. Although I've DMed before, I've always run my adventures free-form, and this will be my first attempt at running a pre-published module.
I'm totally psyched with all the material and the adventures, but several things are worrying me, primarily, experience and levelling in a pre-published adventure.
Before now, I ran adventures on a weekly basis, for short periods, doling out xp at the end of each session. For the AoW, I'm instead running a once a month session, for a larger number of hours, and hoping to get more accomplished by doing so.
My worry for the Whispering Cairn is on how I manage my XP. Asside from the fact that if all encounters and monsters in the adventure are taken on, the XP puts them dangerously close to 4th level, and that's WITH 5 players instead of the recommended four. (If I'm missing something there, please enlighten me) I am trying to work out WHEN to give out XP in my game.
Should I hand out xp after every fight, and accept that the players will retreat to study and learn their new abilities when they garner enough XP to do so. Should I give xp whenever the characters DO retreat and have enough downtime to study and ready their new abilities. Or do I give XP at the end of each 'section' of the adventure path.
That's my worry with Whispering Cairn.
Three Faces of Evil is a little more worrying. While there is plenty of XP to be had in this module, the chance to retreat from the complex and have the down time necessary to level abilities seems to be negligible to non-existant. It looks like the players need to rush all three sections in one fell swoop, leaving them completely bereft of any consumable abilities, and also leaving them at level 3 when they complete the monstrous dungeon crawl, and then suddenly gaining an enormous amount of experience.
I could really use some help figuring out how to level my PC's during these pre-published...
Tim,
There really is no correct way of handing out experience. I would suggest that you do what you are comfortable with since you are micro-managing all of the details in the campaign.
What I personally do is hand out experience points at the end of each gaming session regardless of where the characters are. It is more practical for me to do it this way in a gaming sense as it helps to propel the story and campaign along. I've tried it all number of ways and this works best for practical and mechanical reasons.
I've tried rewarding XP's at the end of each adventure. One season I wouldn't let them achieve their level until they sought out and paid for trainging and supplies (yuck) (brain-fart). Etc. etc.
Best of luck to you
As others have said, it's pretty much up to you. You should work in the manner in which you are most comfortable... you are used to a free-form playstyle, and there is nothing restricting you from keeping your XP awards free-form as well. Despite the outlined rules in the DMG, the Wizards-That-Dwell-Near-the-Coast will not sic their hordes of LG gnome Paladins on you, nor have you beaten into submission with breadsticks if you fail to comply with the written law. It's your game. Run it how you like.
In regards to the huge amounts of XP that appear available... well, you're right. I've calculated the XP available if the players are thorough and miss nothing, and going by the DMG XP awards, a beginning troop of 6 1st-level characters going through the Whispering Cairn would all be 4th level by the time they finish... And that's if they all survive!! If one or two of them die along the way, the remaining 4 or 5 PCs will have less ways to split the XP. "Three Faces of Evil" is even worse/better, with much more XP available. This is great for larger groups, as their DMs won't have to beef up the XP much to keep their groups at a decent level. But for those of you who prefer small groups, if they are thorough, they might advance too quickly.
What I suggest is this... this series is very specific on what levels the PCs should be by certain stages, or certain adventures. I would recommend that you consider not awarding specific XP for each encounter, and rather just award each PC a flat amount based on where you want them to be, level-wise. If they need 1000 XP to get to 2nd level, then when you feel they should advance, give them that amount. Same for next level, and next level, and so on. Two points to consider: 1.) Read ahead carefully, with an eye on what level your particular group of PCs should be to handle the encounters they'll be facing, and award them XP accordingly. 2.) Consider going over the amount they need slightly, by 5 to 10%. This allows those PCs with Item Creation feats to spend some XP to make magic items or cast expensive spells, as appropriate. Anyway, this method might work very well for you.
~ Dave Armstrong
Lincoln, CA
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Despite the outlined rules in the DMG, the Wizards-That-Dwell-Near-the-Coast will not sic their hordes of LG gnome Paladins on you,
I thought they sent a team of half-dragon ninjas?
But back to the plot...
In general I concur with what's already been said, be as flexible with awarding XP as you would be with any other part of a published module -- remember that published rules & adventures are designed to suit certain typical & broad types of play and player, and unless your DM is Monte Cook they probably weren't written with the particulars of your group in mind.
How easy an adventure appears, how thoroughly it is completed, and how much different aspects of it are enjoyed will vary from group to group and from party to party -- if your party is a SWAT team from the temple of St Cuthbert then their experiences of a module will be very different to those of a group of archeaologists, and they in turn to a random bunch of ex-cons & mercenaries who met in the pub. The XP that each of these groups gathers during an adventure will likely vary massively -- both in magnitude and origin -- even if each group "completes" the same module.
You've got a rough idea of where they are now, where you'd like them to be at the start of the next adventure, and some of the things they're likely to do/encounter along the way, so you should be able to pace the XP and just fiddle it a bit when it all goes horribly wrong :) In short, cheat -- once you've mastered that managing encounter toughness & XP awards is easy ; indeed once you've got that and the other two cardinal skills -- lieing & stealing -- down you've got all you need to be a good DM! ;)
Speaking from experience, do remember that if a party of five gains 1,000XP, you split that five ways for 200XP each.
Yes, make sure you are handing out the correct amount of XP.
However, with my group I have always handed out XP as they've earned them. After every fight (or close to the end, sometimes I hang onto them for a bit to ratchet up the tension). I also dole out individual (small) XP's for excellent rping, good jokes, brave deeds, or adding to the game in any positive way (such as figuring out a convuluted rules-lawyer point).
In the end, do it as you want. I've found the continual XP reward as opposed the end of the session dump, tends to motivate the players more ("Come on - one more room, I only have 150xp to go!) Metagaming? Maybe a little but in a good way.
Game on!
Speaking from experience, do remember that if a party of five gains 1,000XP, you split that five ways for 200XP each.
NEW=
True enough, problem was I came up with a ballpark figure, based on CR's of 'most' of the stuff a party would probably encounter, and turned up 21,700xp for the whispering cairn adventure. Before RPing awards and other such stuff that I'm sure will happen. Divided 4 ways (as the module suggests, that's 5425... 575xp from level 4. Divided 5 ways (as I'll be doing) and it's still 4340 before RPing etc.I appreciate all the input, and I'll try and incorporate all the suggestions, my main concern is that my current group is very CR savvy, and if I cheat much, they will FEEL cheated. That's not the atmosphere I want for my gaming, I want to give everyone the just reward they deserve for the work they've done.
We'll see how it goes when I start the campaign.
Any thoughts on 3 Faces? How I can mix this massive dungeon crawl up to make it manageable for a party to do in one go, or give them time to rest between area's?
Tim Austen
You may want to check out this site. It has an encounter calculator that makes the work so much easier:
http://www.d20srd.org/encounterCalculator.htm
Yes, make sure you are handing out the correct amount of XP.
However, with my group I have always handed out XP as they've earned them. After every fight (or close to the end, sometimes I hang onto them for a bit to ratchet up the tension). I also dole out individual (small) XP's for excellent rping, good jokes, brave deeds, or adding to the game in any positive way (such as figuring out a convuluted rules-lawyer point).
In the end, do it as you want. I've found the continual XP reward as opposed the end of the session dump, tends to motivate the players more ("Come on - one more room, I only have 150xp to go!) Metagaming? Maybe a little but in a good way.
Game on!
I've usually gone with the experience all at the end of teh session but I think you make a good point and will try this method out for a bit to see if it adds to the fun.
Any thoughts on 3 Faces? How I can mix this massive dungeon crawl up to make it manageable for a party to do in one go, or give them time to rest between area's?
Split the three dungeons up geographically. I've put the first two in the abandoned mine, and adjusted Filge's clues / words appropriately, to point the PC's at "the mines" in general. So the first one (Hextor) is about half-way into the old abandoned mine, the second (Erythnul) at the bottom (with a locked door), and the last (Vecna) is as per the module (in the Dourstone Mine), but of course now it's the only one near the pool (and the door is also locked).
The PC's could, in theory, visit them in any order, but the order as per the module is the easiest. And this neatly solves the problem of providing more opportunity to rest in between each little "dungeon".