I will be (hopefully) starting AoW next weekend with a group of 4 to 5 very experienced players (each of us has been playing for 10 to 20 years).
What are the top 10 (or more) tips (in just a few sentences) that you would give me (and other DMs) who are going to run the AoW adventure path for the first time.
Thanks,
Michael in Oakville, Canada
Make full use of this site, for ideas,questions or even if its a recipe for goblin stew, someone on here will know or guide you.
My best tip as DM, devour each book. Know your eneimies feats spells etc. Take a copy dungeon of whatever one your party is in where ever you go. So you know it like the back of your hand, makes my life alot easier
My biggest help has come from the rpgenius site, this site (the search function is your friend), and the use of initiative cards, prepared beforehand.
I copy a lot of the artwork on Wizards website to illustrate the various critters, along with the art in the Paizo downloads. Always helps to see what you're slaughterin'.
Best of the AoW Threads - very incomplete, as I started doing it too late, but it's got some good ones.
House Rules - The house rules I'm using for my game.
If either of these links don't work, then either add or remove 'archives/' to the url bar before the thread title.
Other advice:
It will take an afternoon or so per adventure, but I highly recommend typing each adventure up, especially if you've got a laptop. You'll get a good hang of the material that way. I use .rtf documents with imbedded hyperlinks. So, for instance, when the PCs reach area 7 of the Whispering Cairn, I can click a link to bring up the Architect's Lair document (with the link to the map at the top of the page). When they let loose the beetle swarm, I was able to click a link to bring up the stats for the swarm and slasher. Very handy for me. Only thing that would be better would be if I had a projector to display the map, item, or monster they are looking at directly on the table. (Right now I just put the image in slideshow mode and turn the laptop around - kinda awkward.
Look ahead to the next three adventures and add elements from them. For instance, IMC, a grimlock who disobeyed Grallak Kur was found in the Cairn Hills beaten, with his tongue removed. He's now on display at the Emporium. Maybe have rumors of lizardfolk moving in the Mistmarsh. Have the townsfolk talk about how the Champion's Games are coming up soon.
Play up Balabar Smenk, and Kullen (and any other of the local personalities). Have Allustan make use of his scrying spell (oh, and download the Age of Worms Overload document if you don't have it) so that if the party needs some help, it can conveniently arrive in the nick of time (IMC, Allustan hired a cleric to go to the Cairn after he saw them getting ripped up by the wolves).
Make an effort to show the Players that their characters are truely a part of Diamond Lake. They're surrounded by people and customs they've known all their lives. They should be on a first name basis with many of them, while others could be lifelong enemies for childhood slights. Immerse the PCs in the filth that is Diamond Lake.
Have some short side plots written up in case the PCs feel too endangered by the Cairn for a while (IMC, they left after reaching area 7 and unleashing the bugs. Now they're on RPace's "A Night on the Town" side adventure (do a search on the messageboards) - Though if you run that one, it needs a link between the Feral Dog and Thurbiss' shack, and a better link between the shack and the scribe's house. Other side plots include the missing Heironean high priest, the Mine Manager rivalries, to anything Smenk can cook up.
Search for the thread "Dragonchess as a skill." There's an excellent post there with expanded rules for Dragonchess that make sense and are pretty fun. My players had their first in game experience with dragonchess last session and they really got into it.
TK
My tips are a bit broader:
Now that all of the modules are available, you’ll benefit from this tip immensely: Read all of the modules from 1 to 12 before beginning play.
Time permitting as a DM, add personal touches/variations to the campaign “making it yours”.
My tips are a bit broader:
Now that all of the modules are available, you’ll benefit from this tip immensely: Read all of the modules from 1 to 12 before beginning play.
Time permitting as a DM, add personal touches/variations to the campaign “making it yours”.
I will echo that suggestion and add to it. While reading over the adventures keep in mind what type of character's the party has. I suggest warning the players that the adventure path has a history for a high death toll. I have a number of old school players, so I compared it to Tomb of Horrors.
Some players are not use to camping and recovering "in the middle of" an adventure. In AoW it is often a must. The next encounter could be a potential TPK if the party is low on resources. The players should not be afraid to retreat and regroup either. I used the acid beatle swarm to teach my party that concept.
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I will be (hopefully) starting AoW next weekend with a group of 4 to 5 very experienced players (each of us has been playing for 10 to 20 years).
What are the top 10 (or more) tips (in just a few sentences) that you would give me (and other DMs) who are going to run the AoW adventure path for the first time.
Thanks,
Michael in Oakville, Canada
cross your fingers for a player choosing either a good cleric or a paladin...
And as said previously, read all adventures to change things according to your world / tastes.
Or at least read the first 4 adventures.
The players should not be afraid to retreat and regroup either. I used the acid beatle swarm to teach my party that concept.
Heh. Me too. I may have been too effective, however. But we shall see. That is, I shall. Er.
Thanks y'all. These have been very helpful so far. I look forward to seeing even more suggestions.
M.
I hope other users will fund this thread as useful as I have so far.
I just finsihed typing up a couple of Excel spreadsheets to use when I start the adventure and thought others who are running The Whispering Cairn might be able to use them.
The first is a spreadsheet that lists all the NPCs, Locations, Items, and Monsters that appear in the advnture. The item list is particularly handy as I have included a location key with each item in the list. For example, P5:E9 beside an item means it is from Part 5: Encounter 9.
The item list in the spreadsheet is for the DM's eyes and corresponds to the second excel file which is a simple sheet of "cards" the DM can print and cut out. These cards include all the items from The Whispering Cairn and can be handed out to players as they find them. These cards do _not_ include item value, nor do they indicate to the player if the item is magical, but each card includes the location key that corresponds to the DM's item list from the first spreadsheet.
You can download both files from http://deimodius.tripod.com/dnd/
They are at the bottom of the page.
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How did you start your campains? And your opening scene?
[background info] I started with a small introductory adventure (modified Dark and Stormy Knight). My homebrew world has some different elements in it (the world does not rotate so half of it is a paradise of eternal day the other is a dark, frozen wasteland, the bronze-age tech, legacy of a long-dead globe-spanning human empire), so I needed to get the players used to some of the day-to-day differences of life in the campaign world.
None of the four starting players were locals, so I had them come to town for the new-years festival. Diamond Lake is a major source of copper and tin (ie bronze) for the local city state, and the Cairn Hills are of religious significance to the dominant faith (a world-destroying sun god), so there were plenty of reasons for people to come to worship or trade.
[opening scene] The players started in two groups or two; one from the Bronzewood Lodge (passing the old observatory) and the other approached town along the vein (passing Dourstone mine). The moon was just setting and the work day was ending as they approached town. Labourers were pouring out of the mines into the bright sunlight for dinner, a little fun along the vein, and sleep in their heavily shuttered rooms. The commons were crowded with the tents and pavilions of visiting merchants and pilgrims, here for the festival that was to start in three days time. It was warm and sunny (as usual) and the surrounding fields were lush and green. They smelled Diamond Lake before they saw it. The dirty little town slouched before them like a festering sore on the shore of a stinking, polluted lake. The stench of smoke, sweat and waste choked them as they pushed their way past dirty miners into the heart of town…
The two groups of players met at the Gar (complaining about the food somehow helped to forge a bond of friendship). The introductory adventure began a few hours later with prophetic dreams and the storm of the century…
Examine the transitions--between adventures and sections of adventures--and revamp them to strengthen the plot hooks that drive the campaign and personalize them for your PCs.
Encourage PCs to stock lots of healing supplies (wands of cure wounds are a very useful party investment) and make sure there's a secondary healer or two who can use them if the party cleric drops. (Paladins, rangers, bards, rogues with UMD, etc. are very useful). I've made such devices available and even had one sent to my party as a gift by a powerful patron interested in their quest.
Encourage PCs to use divination spells to get hints about how to prepare for upcoming sections of the adventure. This becomes especially useful in the Spire of Long Shadows.
Death Ward is the PCs' friend.
Silversheen is the PCs' friend.
Check the archives to figure out what parts have the most potential for PC death/TPK, and also to find errata, solutions to problems, etc. Almost every module had two or three threads along this line posted in the weeks following its publication, so you can search by module name or by date and pick most of these up. Most of the modules had minor editorial errors and oversights that many players won't notice, but it helps the DM to be aware of them and to have made minor modifications to maintain verisimilitude.
Study key encounters carefully and revise the recommended tactics based on your party's skills and your own knowledge of the game and sense of what is realistic. Know what your villains can do and play them to the hilt, but be prepared to back off and give the party a chance to escape when you've got 'em on the ropes. There are some super climactic encounters in the AP, but they all have the potential to be either a cakewalk or a death trap for the party, depending on circumstances (see obits and cakewalks threads).
Enjoy--this is one of the best series of adventures ever, from start to finish!
I have also reworked some encounters to better fit into Eberron (where I am running it) and to play against individual PCs. For example, I replaced the grimlocks in 3FoE with kobolds of the "Khyber" subrace since one character is a kobold of the "Eberron" subrace (I can never remember the names of the three kobold subraces in Eberron).
I also plan on one of the team owners to be the former Karnnathi officer whose life the players spared during the last war. I ran a starter adventure to give the players a backstory connection before we started AoW. They all sered together in the Last War.
Little tweaks here and there get the players involved.
Remind your players to play smart. The path is deadly, but if your players are veterans, any mix of PCs can get through it. My players didn't have a cleric until 4th level and they did just fine, and have been playing from 14th to 18th level without any real arcane spellcaster. It is possible to have character continuity, both only if your players play smart and work together.
Okay, I'm gearing up to start the campaign.
So far I've had my players make characters (I asked them to make back ups, but they are stubborn about it. Don't ask me why, i can't figure it out).
The party is comprised of: Halfling Wizard, Elven Ranger, Dwarven Knight (PHB2), and a Human Rogue.
I _told_ them it would be a difficult adventure. I _told_ them that it had been compared to Tomb of Horrors, but still no one wanted to play a healer, or make a backup PC. Sigh. I might make up some quick back up PCs just in case and offer them during play. As for healing, the closest they have is the Wizard who took the "Arcane Disciple (Healing)" feat.
I've printed up the introductory adventure involving the abandoned mine office that was posted on these boards, and I've read through the first two adventures (I will read them again before play). I've printed up the AoW Overload .pdf, and I have all the handouts, etc.
I've also read the thread about Alistair Land and the problem of his age vs. getting as far as he did, and I like the idea of the bones under the passage to the Howling Face being his.
Other than all of those things, what are the most important things/changes I should do/make before playing (that haven't already been mentioned).
I know there was an errata thread started, but it doesn't seem like much errata was actually added.
Thanks.
If they don't have a healer, they'll soon realize just why you recommended one. After the first PC or two dies, they may just smarten up. Anyways, a good thing to do in the first adventure (which is quite good as is) is to take note of what aspects the players enjoy most; if they love stomping monsters and exploring the Cairn itself, then the dungeon crawl elements of future adventures can be left as is. If they are more interested in role-playing about town or exploring the area, then you may want to trim future adventures that are hack heavy.
Also, make sure you look for opportunities for side encounters; for example, by Champion's Belt, my players were extremely fed up with the "glowing green worm" theme that was becoming so prevalent. Feel free to mix it up where necessary. Also, make sure you liven up some of the areas; Diamond Lake is very successful because there can be some built in role-playing aspects. A rival adventuring group (that will show up later!) is in town investigating a ruin that the PCs all know to be completely picked over. Suddenly, part of the adventure is keeping their find in the Whispering Cairn a secret. Tyrol (?) the weapons merchant was an excellent way to spread the word; when the PCs sold the Seeker armor to him, Khellek was very interested as to where they may have found it and it took some swift talking on the PCs' part to keep him out of the loop. Sheriff Cubbin will definitely make it his top priority to watch the party extra closely for possible "infractions" in order to get his palm greased with some silver. The PCs should realize very quickly that Diamond Lake is no place they want to stay, and Allustan should be played as probably the only friendly and truly trustworthy person in the town proper (with the exception of perhaps the garrison, the Lodge or the Boneyard).
I would also make notes of what characters react to. For example, My players reacted strongly to Filge's dinner table scene. As a result, I have use similar imagery to reflect the debase nature of the Ebon triad when I was describing the temple areas.
A couple of my players also took a dislike of Dourstone after I describe how he mistreated his workers. They could not stand the mistreatment of someone else. These same players were angered when when one of the prisoners were slain before them in EaBK.
As a result, in HoHR I had the Chimera killed a young woman, leaving her young daughter crying on the street. The beast loomed over the child ready to strike. One of the players rushed to put herself in front of the child and did not move until another player got the child to safety.
I would also make notes of what characters react to. For example, My players reacted strongly to Filge's dinner table scene. As a result, I have use similar imagery to reflect the debase nature of the Ebon triad when I was describing the temple areas.
A couple of my players also took a dislike of Dourstone after I describe how he mistreated his workers. They could not stand the mistreatment of someone else. These same players were angered when when one of the prisoners were slain before them in EaBK.
As a result, in HoHR I had the Chimera killed a young woman, leaving her young daughter crying on the street. The beast loomed over the child ready to strike. One of the players rushed to put herself in front of the child and did not move until another player got the child to safety.
IMC the party, which consists of 8 players of varying alignments but mostly good, defeated and revived Filge from negative hit points.
The lawful good Cleric questioned and entrapped Filge about his particular methods and ways of scientific discovery, then promptly decapitated him afterwards, stating he was judged and found wanting plus it was against his gods doctrine to mess about with the dead.
The rest of the group took offence and expressed their displeasure at the moral implications let alone the Lawful responsibilities, which resulted in the arrest of the character.
[/u]Somehow the authorities were informed![/u]
My advice is this, read the adventures and find the bits that you know will cause the most interaction between the players and the Non player characters outside of combat then enjoy being the DM, play the Deities, Npcs personalities and Alignments with gusto especially if you have mature players that can handle role playing, because it will emerge a lot in game!