An interesting situation has come up and I’m seeking some advice. I am currently running the Age of Worms Adventure Path and my party just started the adventure into the WormCrawl Fissure.
Now the players in the group have really enjoyed the AP, so much so that one of my buddies has been telling of his exploits to his friends at his job.
These folks are so impressed that they have asked my friend to run the AOW AP with them at lunch. So my buddy has come to me asked me to give him the first ten adventures that have been completed.
I’m a little hesitant to do so, I have no problem lending him the all the adventures once we finish the AP which should be in about two months but it doesn’t feel right giving up all the completed adventures until we finish the adventure path.
My buddy is starting to put pressure on me and I think if I don’t give him the mags he might buy them off the Paizo website. Am I being selfish or should I be content the my hard work has inspired others?
The trouble is that the adventures might reveal secrets that only you as a DM should be privy too until you finish the campaign. If you lend him the adventures and he reads through them he might find out stuff about the AP you don't want him to know. Of course this also depends on how much you have changed it and what part of the campaign your players are up to. If you explain the situation I'm sure he'll understand (unless he's not an understanding person). The choice is really up to you. You have to make sure that you aren't damaging your campaign by allowing him to have the adventures. Ultimately, you have to consider how it will upset your players and affect general play. PCs having DM only knowledge about the game is a bad thing!
|
Nearly the exact same thing happened to me. I think that it depends on how he will play. With me, the other player is a long time DM. I gave him the first 3 or 4 issues and he knew enough to at least act surprised when things came up that he might have found out about ahead of time. (In addition, I modify the adventures enough that he wouldn't necessarily know what I had planned.)
The Age of Worms is a great campaign and a lot of fun. I feel that any chance to share in the fun should be utilized.
I'd try to get him to see that it would be best to wait for the campaign to finish on its own before he runs it himself. Tell them that then he'll get the full satisfaction of all the surprises, and be able to look back on the whole thing and decide what he wants to do with it when he runs it. If his players are impatient, have them start character planning and discussion. That can go one for a month or so sometimes, in my experience, and keep up a lot of the excitement for a new campaign even if it's taking a while to get off the ground.
Now, if he still doesn't agree and wants the magazines, the only questions left have already been addressed before: first, will he be able to act surprised at the right times, or at least not ruin the game for the other players, for the remainder of your game, and second, can he be trusted with your possessions? If the answer is "no" to either one, then don't give him the stuff. If the answer is "yes" to both, then go ahead.
In the end, just consider it flattering that he considers your games so fun that merely his tales of them have inspired his friends to want to share in the experience.
Something else to consider is this: How long have you been friends with the player (ie. how reliable is he)? Over the years, I've sometimes lent stuff to players, and invariably, the ones who are true friends return stuff, while the ones I've only known via RPGs NEVER give the stuff back (gits!). I'm assuming that you know this chap well, but do consider the reliability question. If you don't think you'll get the stuff back, don't lend them to him; you won't be acting selfishly!
And if you do decide to lend any, he only needs the first few issues currently, which should be enough time for you to finish your AOW campaign.
I've known him for about 20 years so I'm not worried about losing anything.
He is a good guy but tends to get fustrated when you tell him no. I've talked him into running The Mad God's Key adventure for his new group to see how thing go.
I'm hoping to at least finish IWCF before he starts a Gathering of Winds. I can always "loan" him the fist two adventures which I suspect will allow us to finish the AP.
Any chance your friend can take his work buddies through a different AP or published module while waiting for you to complete AoW, for the reasons mentioned above?
You're ten adventures in. Give him the first one. It'll take 2 months to get through on lunch hours alone.
Big deal.
|
I would loan him the first couple magazines, maybe three at a time to allow him to multitask his planning and ensure he gets the foreshadowing correct. You've already played them, and by the time he needs the 4th installment, you might have finished the AP. It's also a good way for him to practice DM-ing without breaking the flow of your group's play.