I decided to run AoW for a couple of reasons .....
1) I saw not only my FLGS owner running it and loving it but also another patron of the store.
2) I usually HATE to run premade adventures as I like to understand what is going on not only in the adventure but around it too and usually writing the background stuff is just as much work as writing the whole adventure so I just write the whole thing. BUT I read the Diamond Lake backdrop and the beginning of the Whisper Cairn adventure and fell in love with the storyline ... I was hooked.
I had recently started buying dungeon again (issue.. ummm... 121 I think - the one with iggwilv/graz'zt on the cover), and reading the editorials, which started hyping the upcoming AoW adventure path.
Then I read the Whispering Cairn, and I was in love - the storyline started coming together for me, and I knew that I wanted to DM it.
|
Before AoW's what were you up to?
...
Cant wait for the next AP!
I actually got back into DnD after 18 years because of the campaign journals from the Paizo staff's AoW. (I keep reiterating this fact in hopes they will continue based on a perceived marketing value...) Now I have a great group of like-minded guys and we're getting back into the swing of things! Currently we're using a hodge-podge of Dungeon adventures leading up to the Red Hand of Doom. Afterwards we'll probably dive right into the Savage Tide!
AoW for me is a break from the homebrew campaign I've run for my son for five years or so now. We'll go back to the other, but these adventures were just way too fun to pass up.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 4
|
For me, Age of Worms looked too special to pass up.
I've been running homebrews for years (I'm into the 5th year of my current one) and it runs once a month on Saturdays. But when I saw Wayne Reynolds' colossal green worms on #124's cover, there was absolutely no way I could NOT run this thing.
So an every-other tuesday gaming session was born. It's a completely different experience from my saturday game, and I'm having a ton of fun with it.
I was a few sessions into a new campaign, with mostly new players, when I saw the new adventure path. Originally I planned to run a series of pre-published adventures, tied together as I went along, which is pretty much how I ran the last campaign. The first adventure in my current campaign was "Mad God's Key", and we ran a couple of others before going to the Whispering Cairn, which I beefed up a little bit as the PC's were 3rd level by then. The adventure path really caught my imagination, and provided an easier way to link adventures together (they are already linked, so required less work on my part and provided a clearer logical set of goals etc). I still link in the occasional additional adventure, but have found the blend of adventures really good, and the players haven't even really noticed whether any particular adventure is part of an "adventure path" or just something I found that seemed to fit their current goals.
A number of times, I've left it completely open to them what they do next. For example, right now they are near entering the champion's games, one PC having decided he was keen on it ages ago. The others only said yes when they heard Loris was running it, and they found out he wanted them dead. The party noble-born even said "I can't beleive I'm about to enter a gladiator contest, but now I've got a very good reason..." And they are already planning to go back to Diamond Lake once the games are over, so I don't expect the need to prompt them. That's the beauty of this adventure path, for me, lots of good adventures, and lots of scope to provide a rich world and campaign that seems life-like to the players.
|
My last campaign was in the Scarred Lands and was going pretty good. Then the party was TPK'd rather suddenly and unexpectedly in a very non-heroic way. It was quite sad actually.
The campaign shut down right after that due to job requiments which made me unavailable to DM. When that situation was resolved and I was once again able to DM, Dungeon Magazine had just did the four issues with the Greyhawk maps. Feeling very nostalgic I started to work on a Greyhawk game. Then the first Age of Worms installment hit the racks.
One look at that and I had my answer. What an awesome adventure path. I had to run it. I had expectations after reading The Whispering Cairn. By the time the last installment hit the mailbox it had exceeded those expectations.
We are just now finishing up 3FoE. One more session and it will be done I am sure. The players those far seem to be really enjoying it and are looking forward to whole story line.
|
|
Prior to hearing about AoW, I tried to run Maure Castle, with disastrous results. Then, when I was flipping through an old Dungeon, I saw something about the Shackled City path. The group I could gather at the time only wanted to play an adventure above 12th level, so I started there. We got through it fine, and when we got to Adimarchus, these guys spent at least 3 or 4 hours taking down one form, then they had to deal with the other. I'm pretty sure it was the demon.
When I heard about the Age of Worms and that the PC's had to kill a god, I was hooked. I was going to adjust the stats for the earlier battles, but when I saw Dragotha and Kyuss, that plan was off.
I can only imagine what a strait up battle with Kyuss would bring, that being no artifacts, no fighting despair, and no Vortex destruction. What do you guys think?
I was keen to DM something and give our current homebrew DM a chance to play. While trolling through the paizo site for 1st lvl adventures, I came across the preview for Whispering Cairn about 1 month before it came out. Bada Bing, Bada Boom, instant subscription once I got my hands on that episode :) We've all been loving it so far and are currently in 3FoE (the joys of wrangling 5x 30somethings with kids once a fortnight means we're a little slower than most getting throught them AP)
Although I don't think I'll renew my sub as I'm not that interested in pirates and cannibals ANd we'll all be 40+ by the time we finsih this AP at our current rate ;)
I finished running my last D&D campaign in a homebrew world about 2 years ago. I then played in a tolkien based D20 game run by a friend of mine who is usually a player in my campaigns. When that wrapped up in August, I was left gameless, and without much extra time as I just started working as a teacher and my wife and I had our first daughter in April 05. So without much time and with no gaming going on I tried to start a campaign using some canned goods out of dungeon and other sources with some friends. That bombed. The whole time I had been reading the AoW adventures as I have been not subscribing, but stupidly buying every issue off the newsstands since about issue 108 or so.
Well I was kinda down and wanting to start a game but had no time when I read the Prince of Redhand. I knew at once I needed to run that adventure. So I figured what the heck I might as well run the whole AP. And so I have. My players are currently on 3FoE and they have just overcome the Vecnites but still have yet to deal with Hextorians (one of the payers is a Paladin of Hextor so that one is going to be fun) or the Nerullites (I liked the idea of Nerull better than Erythnnul I also thought that Nerull cultists would get along better with Hextorians than followers of Erythnul would).
The last campaign I DMed was Scarred Lands.
White Wolf abandoned it and took down all the internet resources.
Like the anime characters say, "I can never forgive them!"
We got into Ebberon and I was only playing for some time.
AOW had the potential to let me run a campaign to epic level.
I never had any character reach 20th level.
AOW is living up to the hype.
In summery, it lets me DM and gives me the chance to run epic NPCs.
We were playing (don't laugh. Cry, but don't laugh) Warhammer Quest of all things, trying to get a party to 10th level with having to raise anyone. We also played a Shackled City game on another night. I ran a one-off adventure one week when some of the SC players couldn't make it and got interested in DMing around the time that Whispering Cairn was published.
Shortly after which we abandoned Quest in favour of D&D two nights a week.
I had run the SCAP through the Test of the Smoking Eye with another group before I had to move to a new place. Lately I haven't had the time to sit down and plan out campaigns, so after reading the Whispering Cairn I decided to give it a try.
It wasn't until I read the AOW Overload that I realized just how awesome this was going to be. It was all there; gladiatorial combat, intrigue, artifacts, a dragon siege, a dracolich, and of course Kyuss. I just couldn't pass it up.