Age of Worms Questions for #130 & 131

[Scorpion]

1)Dungeon 128 - Arena battle 1:
How do you handle the 3 other groups? I don't want to run all 3 with the PC's action intermixed. I think the player's will get very bored as they will not see much action with all the groups and battle will take a long time between their turns.

2)Dungeon 130 - The Spire of Long Shadows
Vision #6 - In the Realms conversion, are those vision's in addition to the ones presented in the magazine?
Or are the replacement skill checks listed in the magazine?

If they are in addition, how are those vision's in the Realms conversion described to the players?
It lists their meanings but no descriptions, and I dont know enough of the Realms to make something up.

If they are meant to replace the magazine's skill checks. Which Realms conversion skill checks go with what descriptions?

3)Dungeon 131
In Alhastar there are essentially "guardians" called blessed angels. What are these? And why are they protecting Alhastar?

Also I will be using the Realms conversion when they become available, will these blessed angels fit into the Realms city equivelant? (I guess the answer may lie upon what they are are and why they are there?)

Please answer as soon as possible. I would like to know these answers.

[Demiurge 1138]

For 130 - I'm pretty sure those visions are in addition to. If memory serves me right, the conversion notes say whoever has the most ranks in Knowledge: religion sees them, or something like that. I'd double check.

131 - The Blessed Angels are statted up in the Alhaster campaign backdrop article. They're erinyes mortal hunter 4. Vicious.

[Big Jake]

Scorpion wrote:

1)Dungeon 128 - Arena battle 1:

How do you handle the 3 other groups? I don't want to run all 3 with the PC's action intermixed. I think the player's will get very bored as they will not see much action with all the groups and battle will take a long time between their turns.

We rolled one initiative for each group, using the leaders' initiative modifiers. It worked out okay, and it was definately easier for me to run each group. I let the players make any alliance they wanted, then ran the other groups per their motivations as presented in the magazine.

It still took quite a bit of time between actions, but they were interested in what each group was doing, so I don't think anyone got bored. The whole fight went down in like 5 rounds using this method. Having the groups concentrate fire at the same time (instead of each person on separate initiative) sped up the demise of the NPC groups.

[Gold Katana]

Didn't bother with detail on all groups in #128. My PC's attacked the elves first, the other two teams tangled for one or two rounds alone.

When the PC's turned their attention over to the other two teams, I rolled 1D20+team CL for each of the two teams, adjusted the conscious combatants in ratio to the results (seems to me one team lost one member, the other was pretty well decimated).