Subject pretty much says it all. I was just wondering how many people have actually run the Shackled City all the way through.
If you have, about how long did it take? How many characters were killed along the way? Did you have any characters survive all the way through?
Just curious...
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We're about to start playing "Strike on Shatterhorn". The campaign kicked off in November 2004, so my DM-ing guess is two years to finish it.
A great campaign, can't wait to plunge into the Age of Worms.
Lots of deaths, a couple of TPK situations, but no permanently retired characters - thank you, divine magic!
Probably the only character to have not died once is the cleric of Pelor.
We're about to start playing "Strike on Shatterhorn". The campaign kicked off in November 2004, so my DM-ing guess is two years to finish it.
A great campaign, can't wait to plunge into the Age of Worms.Lots of deaths, a couple of TPK situations, but no permanently retired characters - thank you, divine magic!
Probably the only character to have not died once is the cleric of Pelor.
Wow !!! That's a quick one ! I started in November 2004 and we're at the beginning of Demonskar Legacy... Guess you play on a faster pace. We play 4 hours every other week. But in fact I added two long side treks between Flood and Zenith and between Zenith and Demonskar.
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Yes, we play (mostly) one evening a week, rarely twice a week - during holidays - sometimes we have to skip a session or two, depending on job issues, SO issues, and generic real life issues!! ;D
But the AP has been a really great and rewarding experience both for the players and for the DM (me), and these two years in Cauldron will be remembered for a lifetime.
Our group finished this well over a year ago, and the results were...less than satisfying. In the final battle it ended up in a draw with Adimarchus. The party ended up receiving a timely assist from a sorceress in a previous campaign, who fought the demon lord to a standstill, forcing him to flee. The survivors of the group picked up the shreds of their dignity and went their separate ways. In our game, Cauldron ended up being completely destroyed. Some of the plot lines and threads have spilled over into our Age of Worms game, and the threat of Adimarchus is still out there...somewhere.
Our group finished this well over a year ago, and the results were...less than satisfying. In the final battle it ended up in a draw with Adimarchus. The party ended up receiving a timely assist from a sorceress in a previous campaign, who fought the demon lord to a standstill, forcing him to flee. The survivors of the group picked up the shreds of their dignity and went their separate ways. In our game, Cauldron ended up being completely destroyed. Some of the plot lines and threads have spilled over into our Age of Worms game, and the threat of Adimarchus is still out there...somewhere.
Sounds like Dr Jolly's SH. And your tag is Jolly. OMG same person alert perhaps?
My group started the SCAP on January 7th of this year (2006). They are in the middle of the Test of the Smoking Eye already. We play 8-10 hours every week religiously. By my calculation, we will complete the SCAP by year's end and start Age of Worms next January. Looking forward to it!
[Now...if we could just get the AoW hardcover out by then...lol]
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My group finishished it. We played once a weeks for about 3 hours a session. It took us nearly 2 years to finish up.
Oh yeah, Adimarchus kicked the crap out of the party and only Divine intervention saved the day. Yes. I know. It was a total cop out. I had to to the Divine intervention. Otherwise, I don't think the group would have let me DM the Age of Worms.
Based on others' estimates, it sounds like with a pace of 4 hours every other week, it'll take about 4 years for us to finish.
So has anyone actually had a party who managed to defeat Adimarchus all on their own?
Sounds like Dr Jolly's SH. And your tag is Jolly. OMG same person alert perhaps?
Right the first time, my good man!
Sorry for thread hijacking, but I would like to thank Mr Jolly and his crew for two fantastic SH reads! They have indeed helped me prep for things to come and handle events a bit better in SC :)
My group finished SCAP after around 400 hours of playing time. We had several deaths (some permanent), including the dwarven paladin who got controlled in Vaprak's Voice. (Due to a clever literal translation of my instructions, he decided that the only way to comply with the instructions and help the party was to commit suicide...)
On the upside, the party was able to defeat Adimarchus by themselves, albeit just barely. It was a very close thing, but they did it.
My group just finished LoO Tuesday. We play every Tuesday for about 4 hours and have managed some extra, and extra long sessions in between. We started in Aug of 04, and should finish about the same time. The original 7 were Laron the cleric, Val the fighter, Arn the monk, Cade the Rogue, Giegan the Barbarian, and Lilly the Sorcerer. Laron moved away and was replaced by Tlyn the cleric, Val moved and was replaced by Queixan the Paladin, Arn went to war and was replaced by Erasmus. Thus, now on the cusp of 16th lvl they stand prepared to eliminate the threat of the Cagewrights once and for all.
1 - Cade - Rog/Wiz/Blood Magus
2 - Lilly - Sor/Dragon Disciple
3 - Tyln - Cleric
4 - Queiaxan - Ftr/Pal/Purple Orchid (purple dragon)
5 - Giegan - Bar/Sor/Rage Mage
6 - Erasmus - Fighter
My player have had a lot of fun, but I as a DM have never had more fun, and am all ready working on AoW with a tentative start date of October.
My group just finished LoO Tuesday. We play every Tuesday for about 4 hours and have managed some extra, and extra long sessions in between. We started in Aug of 04, and should finish about the same time. The original 7 were Laron the cleric, Val the fighter, Arn the monk, Cade the Rogue, Giegan the Barbarian, and Lilly the Sorcerer. Laron moved away and was replaced by Tlyn the cleric, Val moved and was replaced by Queixan the Paladin, Arn went to war and was replaced by Erasmus. Thus, now on the cusp of 16th lvl they stand prepared to eliminate the threat of the Cagewrights once and for all.
1 - Cade - Rog/Wiz/Blood Magus
2 - Lilly - Sor/Dragon Disciple
3 - Tyln - Cleric
4 - Queiaxan - Ftr/Pal/Purple Orchid (purple dragon)
5 - Giegan - Bar/Sor/Rage Mage
6 - Erasmus - FighterMy player have had a lot of fun, but I as a DM have never had more fun, and am all ready working on AoW with a tentative start date of October.
Hi Walter
Just a question for you as a DM. How has the Rage Mage played out in your campaign? One of my lads is keen on the idea but was hesitant to make the final leap as he still enjoys getting up front with a power attacking "Insert 2 handed weapon name in here". If it has been good, could you per chance supply a few stats as to the class levels they have taken, weapon used etc :)
Thanks in advance.
Subject pretty much says it all.
We've been playing since Feb '05, and are just rounding the end of "The Demonskaar Legacy." We've had a drought once or twice - for example, two of us are retail managers, so the whole of December is a write-off for gaming, and other life events tend to conspire to make it lucky that we stick to our two-evenings-a-month schedule.
We're also lucky if we game for more than three hours or so, so I'm thinking that's a good clip.
We are, however, planning an August Bank Holiday full-day gaming experience. Woot!
Hi All,
My one group and I started the SCAP back in September 2005 and have had 17 sessions so far. We try to play bi-weekly for about 6 hours a shot. The group has just begun Zenith Trajectory and I estimate 3 sessions for them to complete it. If that rate holds true for each of the remaining chapters, then I guess we will be finishing the SCAP in about 27 more sessions or just over another year and a half. Here’s hoping for the occasional extra session. ;-) Anyway, the current roster for the Heroes of Cauldron is as follows:
Ollo: Halfling Rogue 2 / Wizard 5
Zaruthiel: Elven Fighter 2 / Wizard 5
Arivanna: Elven Ranger 4 / Fighter 3
Shoa Lin Shado: Shifter Druid 7
Romin the Wanderer: Human Cleric 7
The group has had some very close calls, but so far each of the characters has survived since the start. In addition, we have all been enjoying the campaign immensely and my players are looking forward to taking their characters all the way to 20th level. I think it’s going to be quite a ride. :-)
Good gaming,
Mark
We started May 1, 2005. Play every other Sunday from 1600 to 2130 (or so), however we usually miss 2 or 3 meetings during the summer, and 1 at Christmas. Also, this year, Easter & Mother's Day fell on a meeting so we didn't play them at all.
Currently, the group (6 characters, 8th level) are going back into Vaprak's Voice (Demonskar) caverns after getting the backsides handed to them by the 3 hags. Also, I am running it from the book so there is the extra 3rd level adventure in there.
-- david
ps. Is this the Mike Cyr that used to be in Poughkeepsie, NY, then moved to Austin, TX... From the old Seekers of the Crystal Monolith (Shard?) group?
Subject pretty much says it all. I was just wondering how many people have actually run the Shackled City all the way through.
If you have, about how long did it take? How many characters were killed along the way? Did you have any characters survive all the way through?
Just curious...
ps. Is this the Mike Cyr that used to be in Poughkeepsie, NY, then moved to Austin, TX... From the old Seekers of the Crystal Monolith (Shard?) group?
That would be me, though to be honest, the name Seekers of the Crystal Monolith doesn't really strike a bell. Is that really what we were called? I think my transmuter was around 7th level when I left.
I'm still in Austin, by the way, but before we get too far off topic, feel free to email me directly at mikecyr@bigfoot.com.
My group just started the campain. We have just now rescued the orphans (I know.... we have a long way to go). We meet only once a month but our sessions are 8-10 hours. Only 1 death so far, it was our only mage who rerolled as a fighter, now we are extremely heavy on the melee side. Although we do hand out a healthy but whoopin when fight time starts.Our group consits of
2 human warriors
1 human knight
1 human battle sorcerer
1 human rogue/fighter <--- me
1 dwarf cleric of Pelor
We started in October 2005 and are going to be finishing the 10th chapter today. I estimate we'll finish the campaign in 5 weeks. We play anywhere from 4 to 10 hours every friday, depending on when everyone arrives. We've missed a few weeks, but are able to do this nearly every week. I have sped things up by pruning out some of the more repetitive battles.
The PC's in my campaign are a bit overpowered, so I have changed the campaign setting to not allow reserrections to occur at all (except from a wish spell). This has made some things MUCH more effective, such as the death of Alek Tercival and many of the NPC's that died in the eruption last chapter (Fario, Fellian, Skie Alderson, Ankhin Taskerhill, Kristoff Jurgenson, Asfelkir). Shensen was also killed recently by Hookface before our group was able to defeat him. As for player deaths, I have had two. One of them from a Huge Fire Elemental that was destroying the inn (in chapter 5 I believe), and one from chapter 7. Both have came back and played as NPC's.
I'm kinda worried about the Adimarchus fight, because he is so extremely powerful. We will have six level 20 players, who's characters are all extremely powerful, fighting him though, so hopefully it will not be a TPK.