I plan on running the SCAP but to me the time between starting the first adventure and completing the final adventure seems too short. Does anyone else think so?
I think that the adventures should take place over several years of game time. This makes it easier to show the gradual change in Cauldron as time passes and it also stops PC's going from 1st level pushovers to all-powerful, nothing can defeat me adventurers in the space of a few months.
How long do most people take to complete the SC adventure path (in game time)? What sorts of things have you done in your game to try and extend the adventures out timewise (if anything)?
My campaign will have a final timeline of about 3 years.
My campaign will have a final timeline of about 3 years.
Hi evilash,
I was thinking about expanding the timeline myself, i've added a couple side adventures and what not. How did you work elapsed time? Fade in/fade out? Ex. After chapter two... 'Okay, so 4 months has passed in game time, what have your chaacters been doing?' Or have you came up with a better way? Thaks.
I, too, thought that the timeline was far too short. I have a hard time with a 17-year-old (in human years) wizard's apprentice becoming an 18-year-old epic-level archmage in the span of a year or so.
So far, I've spaced out the adventures about a year apart. It's given me time to introduce some people to the group ahead of time (mainly Triel, who's still part of the town guard at this point) and also get the party more involved in the mundane aspects of the city. I have yet to prepare an overall campaign timeline, though. I think now would be a good time to do that.
My campaign will have a final timeline of about 3 years.Hi evilash,
I was thinking about expanding the timeline myself, i've added a couple side adventures and what not. How did you work elapsed time? Fade in/fade out? Ex. After chapter two... 'Okay, so 4 months has passed in game time, what have your chaacters been doing?' Or have you came up with a better way? Thaks.
I've been running the ap straight through the year. In real time, it's taken more like 2 years sofar, and we're just about to start secrets of the soul pilars. It works pretty well. It keeps some presure on the plot, without kaing the player progression seem unrealistically fast.
On the other hand, if you're going to increase the timeline, make sure the players have things to do. Running an inn or a shop, attending classes at Bluecrater, Attending mass at their local temple or some other type of "day job". That way, you get the players emotionally connected to cauldron, and you have some really easy tie-ins with some of the earlier chapter of the AP. For example, pc's owning a shop could really feel the pain of the tax increasses, while a player who runs an inn could get geared up for the flood festival several months in advance.
Of course, you can let your players do most of the work, creating places of interest and come up with things they can do during the 'off camera' moments.
Before you take that step, though, decide how much game time you want to spend on the PC's developing their day jobs. you can easily go overboard, spending entire sessions playing out the equivalent of a shopping expedition.