On a side note, this thread is awsome: Seeking out Mystery adventures to go with Mr Victor
Thought I'd post that because it always gets anoying when 2 threads are the same, thus I will try to make mine different.
I'm starting a new campaign soon and plan on using these adventures, currently in this order:
Chimes at Midnight
Voyage of the Golden Dragon
Quoth the Raven
Hell's Heart
Couple problems: I don't own Chimes at Midnight yet, is it a first level adventure, a campaign starter or should I plan something before that?
I haven't finished reading Voyage yet, is it conceivable to keep the PC's at 8th Level by the end of it, or should I plan to scale Quoth and Hell's Heart up?
One last thing is about Black Winter. Does it start in Chimes or just in Quoth the Raven? Which brings me to an important question: How do I get my players to focus on Victor and not run and put out the fires?
Any help would be great guys, thanks!
Chimes at Midnight is fifth level, so if you want to start with that one right off the bat, you'll need to scale it down or start with fifth level characters.
Like I said on the other forum, the original Eberron path is a lot of fun and can start at 1st level. It begins with The Forgotten Forge, included in Eberron Campaign Setting and continues with Shadows of the Last War, Whispers of the Vampire's Blade and ends with Grasp of the Emerald Claw.
The adventures are all a lot of fun but seem to be badly scaled and overpowering. Of course, I am not running them in Eberron and so my party doesn't have access to action points. I leveled up the party and now they're doing okay. I have heard they are really tough for regular Eberron parties too, though so keep that in mind.
Right now we are half way through Whispers of the Vampire's Blade and we are having a lot of fun. I normally don't sing such high praises of published adventures but these are fun and not at all repetitive.
This path could serve to get your party up to, and a little past actually, the levels you need to start the ones you have listed. Dragon Magazine had some other great Eberron adventures that I read but chose not to include in my existing campaign just for time's sake. I recommend The Queen with Burning Eyes (I don't remeber the issue) and the Shards of Eberron adventure path (Crypt of Crimson Stars, Temple of the Scorpion God and Pit of the Fire Lord) in issues #123, #124 and #125 looked really good.
Eyes of the Lich Queen is another Logue credit; a mini campaign with a lot of authors. It's levels 5-10, though, so it would need some adjusting to use the others. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, though.
Mad God's Key from Dungeon 114(?) could easily be adapted for Eberron, if that's where you're playing. I thought of adapting it myself, honestly. 1st level adventure and an RPGA pseudo sequel (though I've never layed eyes on it, since I've never been an RPGA member); good jumping off point. Fallen Angel is recommended in Chimes At Midnight, and I think that's a good one.
Chimes is on Wildnight; I haven't memorized the Eberron calendar, so I'm not sure what season that is, but it gives a good indication of time between episodes. I'm assuming it's a hot summertime thing, so the Black Winter would begin a few months later?
Hey guys, thanks for the advice so far, it's been a big help.
I've looked at the original eberron AP, but the only one in my store is Grasp, but that's ok. I can make a homebrew starting adventure to get the PCs used to Sharn, introduce some NPCs and get my players used to Eberron.
That Chimes is Fifth level and Quoth Eight works well. I can play Chimes at the Appropriate level then move into Flight of the Golden Dragon. I have six players instead of the standard five so they should be able to take the first part at sixth level, give a levelup midway through to seven then to eight at the end to start Quoth the Raven.
Maybe after that I'll write a homebrew concerning the fires, let the PCs try to save one of their favorite districts, then jump in with Hell's Heart.
I'll need to see if I can track down the Dungeon issues you guys have mentioned, I'll stop by my store tomorow to see what's left.
Thanks for the help guys, anymore advice is always welcome and appreciated.
Ooh! Maybe they can meet Victor at lvl 1 when he's still a good guy? Maybe. I'll need to read Chimes first.
As a campaign starter, I might suggest Hangman's Noose...it's a great way to bring a party together and easy to adapt to any city setting (Sharn would work fine). Also, you could start setting up Viktor right away in it (make him a juror, and have him bond with and help the PCs...that way when he goes evil in Chimes, it's even more intense).
Any way you slice it, Chimes works much cooler if the PCs know Viktor and respect him already, that way when he turns to the darkside, it's a great pay off.
This will probably all make more sense after you read Chimes. :-)
EDIT: Nick *heart* this thread!!!
Hey Nick, thanks for the reply and the advice. You're very quickly becoming one of my favorite D&D writers. (the other two may or may not have been involved as Editors with Dragon Dungeon or Pathfinder. Shhhsh!" Oh, and Richard Pett ;p
I'm waiting for my paypal to confirm transfer before I can order chimes from Ebay, seriously game stores that don't keep backstock suck sometimes! Stupid east coast canada small towns being unable to support my addiction! But they might be able to order Hangman for me, that could be fun!
Not to threadjack or anything... consider it, instead, a pooling of resources, considering the two of us thread-starters are after a similar goal... but with "Hangman's Noose," would it work alright the other way around? I've already started my PCs in on their magical mystery tour with "Shut-Ins." I'm interested in trying to use "Hangman's Noose" with my PCs, but they'll be 3rd-4th level by the time it's through, I expect (started in at 3rd level, since mine will be more of a mini-series than a campaign. I'm aiming for the feel of a set of mystery novels about the PCs.)
Also, if I may interject my reccomendations, "Shut Ins" is a fine mystery adventure, if you don't mind stepping away from Mr. Logue now and again. The only flaw so to speak, that I found in the "Chimes at Midnight" series is that almost all of the bad guys are monster-folks or monstery Eberron specific races, with a few humans mostly in mastermind roles. "Shut-Ins" features a psychotic halfling, which will keep my players from assuming that because someone's a core PC race, they're safe, and because they're a goblinoid, they're okay to kill. I think it's important to make that distinction in Eberron, and particularly in cosmopoliton Sharn.
That said, I /love/ the whole Logue's gallery of villains in "Chimes." I just wish there was a crazy elf or evil gnome in there as well.
"Murder at Oakbridge" is another fine 'one-shot' mystery adventure, (though not a Logue adventure or as twisted as one,) both for its coverage of the lovely Oakbridge district, and because it uses a villain who kills out of a twisted sense of justice for the loss of a child's life... making for a sympathetic foe.
Kobold Press
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Also, it may be worth checking out Blood of the Gorgon, which Nick is currently writing as an Open Design project. It's got no St-Demain, but the themes and style are similar and PCs should be starting around 8th level.
Plus hey, you get a front-row seat as he puts the adventure together.
Not to threadjack or anything... consider it, instead, a pooling of resources, considering the two of us thread-starters are after a similar goal... but with "Hangman's Noose," would it work alright the other way around? I've already started my PCs in on their magical mystery tour with "Shut-Ins." I'm interested in trying to use "Hangman's Noose" with my PCs, but they'll be 3rd-4th level by the time it's through, I expect (started in at 3rd level, since mine will be more of a mini-series than a campaign. I'm aiming for the feel of a set of mystery novels about the PCs.)
Also, if I may interject my reccomendations, "Shut Ins" is a fine mystery adventure, if you don't mind stepping away from Mr. Logue now and again. The only flaw so to speak, that I found in the "Chimes at Midnight" series is that almost all of the bad guys are monster-folks or monstery Eberron specific races, with a few humans mostly in mastermind roles. "Shut-Ins" features a psychotic halfling, which will keep my players from assuming that because someone's a core PC race, they're safe, and because they're a goblinoid, they're okay to kill. I think it's important to make that distinction in Eberron, and particularly in cosmopoliton Sharn.
That said, I /love/ the whole Logue's gallery of villains in "Chimes." I just wish there was a crazy elf or evil gnome in there as well.
"Murder at Oakbridge" is another fine 'one-shot' mystery adventure, (though not a Logue adventure or as twisted as one,) both for its coverage of the lovely Oakbridge district, and because it uses a villain who kills out of a twisted sense of justice for the loss of a child's life... making for a sympathetic foe.
I have unfortunately not read Hangman's Noose because rural eastern canadian game stores don't get a lot of smaller publisher's stuff in. They stopped getting Pathfinder after #3 (what I get for supporting local business) and the only gamemastery they got in is Crown of the Kobold King, which I almost bought because it's Paizo and Nic, but I can't fit in in either my current Realms Game or my upcoming Eberron one, but I digress.
As far as your question about Hangman, I'm sure you could scale it appropriately. I find the easiest way to scale an adventure is to leave the story as is and just scale up the encounter. You might not even have to scale it to your party level if you do it smart.
(please note that while I try to give my players a fun and rewarding game time, "smart" may be seen as mean)
Play to your characters weaknesses. I find player classes are deadly for this. Looking at your campaign journal I see you are mostly a squishy party that tosses out spells. Monk saves make even a CR 1 baddie a pain to get a spell off on. For those who swing swords or fist, two rogues are the devil. Give two goblins a level in rogue each, giving them 1d6 sneak dmg. One tumbles in on a PC, stabs him for regular damage, takes a hit. tumbles in and gets sneak dmg for flanking. the first one sneak attacks then 5 foot steps back and downs a potion. fighter now has to either hit the 1st guy, and #2 will sneak atk or vice versa. I'm not saying build TPK attacks, but a few character and monstrous levels here and there can make any encounter a fun challenge.
What issues are Shut ins and Murder at Oakbridge in?
Also, it may be worth checking out Blood of the Gorgon, which Nick is currently writing as an Open Design project. It's got no St-Demain, but the themes and style are similar and PCs should be starting around 8th level.
Plus hey, you get a front-row seat as he puts the adventure together.
I would love to Wolfgang! I unfortunately do not have 25 dollars to spare right now.
Shut Ins is in issue #128. Oakbridge is in #129. I was lucky they were next to each other while I was collecting Age of Worms issues.
As a campaign starter, I might suggest Hangman's Noose...it's a great way to bring a party together...Also, you could start setting up Viktor right away in it (make him a juror...
I just finished running Hangman's Noose, and heartily recommend it as a starter for a mystery and/or Demain based adventure path. When I first read this thread, I was already halfway through the adventure. So, rather than a juror, I brought Viktor in at the end along with...
Even though he was a suspect, Viktor asked the PCs to recap all of their evidence for him. This helped the players put all the pieces together themselves, with a few observant nudges from Viktor.
Also, since the PCs understood Jarbin's innocence, they haughtily berated Viktor for his blindly-aggressive prosecution and threatened to expose his failure to catch the right man. I didn't show it, but I was giggling gleefully inside. They had no idea they were handing me my main villian's motivation on a silver platter.
Also, Patrissa did a marvelous job of earning the PCs wrath with her manipulations. She also survived the night, so I think I'll be bringing her back as well, in league with Viktor somehow...
The other modification I made was to start the PCs as zero-level commoners. This increased their sense of scooby-gang vulnerability, so they focused more on character interaction over combat or magic. Great fun!
As a campaign starter, I might suggest Hangman's Noose...it's a great way to bring a party together...Also, you could start setting up Viktor right away in it (make him a juror...I just finished running Hangman's Noose, and heartily recommend it as a starter for a mystery and/or Demain based adventure path. When I first read this thread, I was already halfway through the adventure. So, rather than a juror, I brought Viktor in at the end along with...
** spoiler omitted **
The other modification I made was to start the PCs as zero-level commoners. This increased their sense of scooby-gang vulnerability, so they focused more on character interaction over combat or magic. Great fun!
Sounds awesome Ophryon! Great stuff hidden by your spoilers tag! A cool campaign in the making. Well done!