My group has been playing the SCAP for 14 sessions now. The players have almost finished Drakthar's Way (just need to find the crypt and destroy it). Yes, we are slow at completing adventures! :)
For the first time in a D&D campaign I've kept track of some records from session to session. The results have been interesting and the players seem to enjoy breaking a record. Here are some of the stats for the PC's up to 4th level:
Creatures Killed By PC's: 132
PC Deaths: 0
PC's Knocked Out (usually means 0 or less HP's): 15
Biggest Negative Hit Point Total: -8 (twice)
Highest Attack Roll: AC 31
Lowest Attack Roll: AC 0 (twice! - including one attack on an unconscious Skulk!)
Highest Saving Throw: Knowledge:Local DC 34
Highest Skill Check: Fortitude DC 26 (vs Bat Swarm's Distraction attack)
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 37 with a Greataxe (vs Goblin Sneak)
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 54 with a Greataxe (vs 2 Goblin Sneaks)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Spell Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Hit: 26 vs 2 Shocker Lizards (Lethal Shock attack)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Round: 26 vs 2 Shocker Lizards (Lethal Shock attack)
Some of the stats are very interesting. It definitely highlights the melee orientation of the group. The lack of spell damage is probably a little surprising for most people as well. There is a Cleric and a Conjurer in the group but neither of them have used much in the way of ranged damage spells. The Conjurer has taken Evocation as a banned school so that has made life interesting (no Fireball obviously).
I was surprised at the sheer number of creatures that the group has killed so far. 132 is a lot at 4th level. The most kills in one session is 35 (mainly Goblins). That's fair going for a 4 hour session!
The amount of melee damage that the Fighter has been able to do in one hit and one round (37 & 54) has also been a bit unexpected. I know that Greataxes can be deadly when they crit but 37 at only 4th level is pretty impressive in my opinion.
Olaf the Stout
I was most interested in your very first stat. Our group has averaged 6.125 sessions per module, spread over a very long time. I think very soon, it will pass my Giantdowns game as the longest-running campaign I've been in, around 5-1/2 years.
We are near the end of "Foundations" after 53 sessions.
We too after 90 sessions. We play around 6 hours/session. Next session they will meet Hookface.
I am most interested in:
- # of sessions
- duration of sessions
- number of players
- experience distribution amongst players (beginner intermed. expert)
- style of playI do a lot of estimating to create a smooth storyline. If you've got this data, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.
We've played 15 session now and have just about completed Drakthar's Way. The first session of the campaign was a bit of a prologue, involving the party travelling through the jungle to Cauldron. We are definitely getting through the adventures a lot slower than I would have liked.
We play every second Wednesday night. The scheduled start time is 6pm but it is normally 7pm by the time everyone has arrived and we are underway. I'd love to get underway at 6pm on the dot but that seems to be an impossible task. I have now started to begin the session without players who are late. We normally finish around 11pm, so sessions are about 4 hours long. Sometimes we have gone on until about midnight though.
I have 5 players (plus me as DM).
I have 1 player that is a beginner. He has roleplayed before but has never played D&D before this campaign. 2 players are very experienced (have played in my game for a couple of years now and have also played previous editions and also play/run other 3.xE D&D games. The remaining 2 players have only been playing D&D for a couple of years now but have a pretty good knowledge of the rules.
I have been playing D&D for about 11-12 years. I have run a 3.5E game for about 2 1/2 years. My rules knowledge is relatively good, although I am still pretty weak rules-wise when it comes to the a lot of the skills and powers various monsters have. I also don't have the greatest knowledge of spells (I normally play rogues). As a result I normally have to look up a lot of special qualities/attacks of monsters as well as some spells. This can slow down play a little.
Our playstyle is a probably a mix of rollplay and roleplay. Everyone in the group likes combat (including myself), but we don't just fast forward from one adventure to the next. I have been adding things into the game along the way to foreshadow things and get the players interacting with various NPC's more before the encounter them as part of an adventure. I have also been trying to get the players to know and care more about the city.
For example, the party was invited to dinner with Lord Vhalantru after rescuing the townsfolk. The party chatted with him a bit about the city and various NPC's (such as Tereson and the Lord Mayor). Vhalantru rewarded them each with a magic item and the now think he is a pretty good guy.
A couple of other roleplay encounters involved Keygan Ghelve who the party befriended. We spent about half an hour to an hour roleplaying his trial at which the PC's testifying in his favour. Another roleplaying encounter was the party befriending Xuthal, the mimic who was guarding Starbrow in Jzadirune. The even managed to get Xuthal a job in town!
Overall the various roleplaying encounters have probably added a session or so to the time it has taken to complete the adventures. I am glad that we spent the time on them though as they have got the players immersed into the game more and caring more about the game.
A couple of things that I think have slowed us down are:
1. No rogue. For almost all of the first adventure the party didn't have a rogue. As a result, the doors and traps in Jzadirune slowed the party down a lot. At one point almost an entire session was spent on trying to deal with one of the Tilt-a-Pit traps (don't ask! :-)). The party just wasn't able to deal with them. The fact that the party seemed to roll horribly for Reflex saves when encountering them didn't help either.
2. They couldn't find the elevator. The elevator down to the Malachite Fortress was basically the last room that the party explored. They almost found it immediately upon entering Jzadirune. They found the secret door but then the Dwarf Fighter fell into the the acid trap and almost died so they retreated from there. After that they began exploring the rest of the dungeon and forgot about the secret door. As you can imagine, exploring almost every single room in Jzadirune (and without a rogue) took a while.
3. The new player is playing a Cleric. A new player playing a spellcaster probably wasn't the best idea. However, I wanted him to play the class he wanted to (since I didn't want him to be stuck with a character he didn't want to play in his first game). Obviously this slowed things down as he didn't know what spells to cast, how spellcasting in combat worked, etc., He has picked up things relatively well so far. The game can sometimes slow down as he decides what to do and/or cast in combat but he is definitely getting the hang of things now.
4. Out of game chatter. We can get a bit off track sometimes during the game as we chat about things like Order of the Stick or something else similarly off track. Since everyone seems to join in the conversation I don't mind too much (and I can be as guilty as anyone else in getting off-track). Lately though I have tried to limit this where possible, especially as we haven't actually started playing until after 7pm due to late players.
5. Combat. Even if you are quick in getting through turns, combat still takes time. The party has had almost 150 kills. That can take a while to do. In addition to that, our combats can sometimes get a little slow as players try and decide what to do. I have tried to speed things up now, forcing players to delay their action if they can't make up their minds within a certain amount of time. It is helping but we could still be a lot quicker in this area.
6. Indecision. My group can take forever to decide to do option A or option B. Most of the time this occurs in a situation where in-game time isn't really a problem (i.e. I can't force the discussion to a close with a random attack). For example, deciding what to do after they saw goblins coming and going from the bath house at night. The party had all day (in game) to decide what the best option was and they spent ages before finally coming up with a plan. I have started trying to push them into a decision more quickly but it still takes up session time.
I hope this helps. Despite our speed of play I think everyone is still enjoying the game. I do hope I can speed things up in future sessions though.
Olaf the Stout
Hey I love the stat keeping aspect of the game. I am currently DMing, but when I am playing I keep track of my Total Crits, Saving Throw successes, and my Skill Check successes. At first it was just for fun during down time at the table but then it became very handy in helping me decide where to put my skill points.
Keep it up!
Bandit of LV
Hey I love the stat keeping aspect of the game. I am currently DMing, but when I am playing I keep track of my Total Crits, Saving Throw successes, and my Skill Check successes. At first it was just for fun during down time at the table but then it became very handy in helping me decide where to put my skill points.
Keep it up!
Bandit of LV
I keep track of the first PC crit for each level but I haven't been keeping track of total crits per PC. That's a little too much detail for me to deal with while I am DM'ing. If I was playing I imagine that I could do it though.
The players are definitely enjoying it though. Whenever there is a kill the person who got the kill is normally quick to make sure it is added to the kill tally. And keeping track of things like highest skill check and saving throw means that it isn't all about the PC's with the best melee atttacks.
We will certainly be continuing to keep stats. I think it will make for interesting reading by the end of the campaign. I am keeping track of the records at each level as well (provided they break the old record) so it will be fun to look at how the PC's improve as the campaign continues.
Olaf the Stout
Well after 16 sessions the PC's have finally managed to get to the end of Drakthar's Way. It took the party 4 attempts to finally finish Drakthar off.
The first time the encountered him they were low on spells and hit points. They fled upon encountering 5 summoned bat swarms, never even realising that they nearly fought a vampire.
The second time they encountered him they got him down 0 hit points and gaseous form. He fled and they didn't give chase as no-one has rolled well enough on their Knowledge: Religion check to figure out he was a vampire and wasn't completely defeated (although the players knew exactly what was going on :) ).
The third time the again got him down to 0 hit points and gaseous form. The PC's followed him as he fled but he managed to shake them by sending the party towards Chorlydyr and Kallev (who the party then fought, giving Drakthar time to escape). They found his treasure room before Drakthar had a chance to regenerate but unfortunately for them they didn't search the room to see if Drakthar's crypt was there.
The fourth time they fought Drakthar they again got him down to 0 hit points. He led them on a merry chase through the caverns before losing the party by floating up a ledge that the quickest PC took a couple of rounds to climb. Luckily they managed to find the secret tile in his treasure room the second time around and finally destroy Drakthar for good.
So this may partially explain why my group is taking so long to complete adventures. What could have been over a couple of sessions ago has taken a lot longer due to the PC's inability to finish Drakthar off.
The thing I found most amusing was that the PC's feared the bat swarms more than Drakthar himself! They just had no effective way of dealing with them. The Conjurer has Evocation as a prohibited school and didn't have any AoE spells that he could cast. I let him cast Acid Splash as a AoE spell just to be nice. Even then the spell only does 1d3 damage. The other thing I allowed was for torches to deal 1 damage on a successful hit. I'm not sure if that was entirely by the book either but otherwise I really think the PC's could not do anythink to kill the bat swarms.
So far in the campaign the bat swarms have caused the party more trouble (and dealt more damage) than anything else they have come up against. The fact that I had a habit of rolling 5 or 6 for the bat's 1d6 damage probably didn't help the PC's either.
There still haven't been any deaths but I have KO'd the PC's 18 times in 16 sessions. At one point last session 4 of the 5 PC's were in single digit hit points whilst trying to finish off the bat swarms (Drakthar was already defeated).
Olaf the Stout
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I'm afraid I was not thinking of campaign stats when I started mine. I began around the start of February '07, and as of May '08 we had made it to Thirteen Cages. This is due mostly to our 15 month tour in Afghanistan, playing on average of once a week, varying from three or four sessions to none at all.
No stats for me, only number of death,we played 24 sessions (I think), we are at the end of Bhaal Hamathung, playing from the magazine, no Drakthar's way for me.
The pace is very slow since I have a child, even before that we played around once a month but no more than ten times a year, we started on May 2005.
Love the Stats Olaf. I am hoping to get my group to play this adventure path next, after we finish with Tomb of Horrors and Expedition to Castle Greyhawk. It looks like many folks are taking about 2 to 2 1/2 years to get through it. Would anyone like to nmake a guess on the length of time it will take your groups?
-Roth
Since this thread has popped up again I though I might give a quick update on how things have gone. We have now played 19 sessions and the party are at the entrance to the Kopru Ruins in "Flood Season". The players have all recently made it to 5th level. There still haven't been any PC deaths but I have knocked them out a few more times.
Here are the updated stats after 19 sessions. Apart from the creatures killed, and PC's Knocked Out not a lot has changed.
Creatures Killed By PC's: 169
PC Deaths: 0
PC's Knocked Out (usually means 0 or less HP's): 23
Biggest Negative Hit Point Total: -8 (twice)
Highest Attack Roll: AC 31 (twice, including one critical vs Tongue-eater)
Lowest Attack Roll: AC 0 (twice! - including one attack on an unconscious Skulk!)
Highest Saving Throw: Knowledge:Local DC 34
Highest Skill Check: Fortitude DC 26 (vs Bat Swarm's Distraction attack)
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 37 with a Greataxe (vs Goblin Sneak)
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 54 with a Greataxe (vs 2 Goblin Sneaks)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Spell Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Hit: 26 vs 2 Shocker Lizards (Lethal Shock attack)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Round: 26 vs 2 Shocker Lizards (Lethal Shock attack)
Olaf the Stout
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When are group ran through this campaign we each kept a kill meter on are character sheets to keep trak of how many kills we each made through out the campaign.
At one point in the game we made a tally of the total kills for the group and was pretty shocked!
I mean really! Is adventurer just another title for mass murderer?
When are group ran through this campaign we each kept a kill meter on are character sheets to keep trak of how many kills we each made through out the campaign.
At one point in the game we made a tally of the total kills for the group and was pretty shocked!
I mean really! Is adventurer just another title for mass murderer?
The Hexblade is currently leading the kills tally at the moment with 65 kills. The Fighter is the next best on 51. From there it is 29 kills for the Rogue, 13 for the Sorcerer and 11 for the Cleric.
Considering that they've only just reached 5th level and 2 PC's have already killed over 50 creatures each, I would have to say yes. It's kind of scary when you look at it from a numbers perspective. I wonder what the numbers will get up to by the time we finish.
The Hexblade had one session where he had 18 kills (almost all of them Goblins). After one particular combat there were about 8 or 9 Goblin bodies piled up around his feet. It's all a bit gruesome when you think about it too hard.
Olaf the Stout
After 21 sessions, the group have finished Flood season. They are level 5 (4-6).
They only found the elevator after visiting all of Jzadirune. They managed to kill the guards at the entrance of the kopru ruins but then wanted to try the strange button and raise the alarm. They had a bit of difficulty against the Ebon triad .
We play 5 hours by session.
The first dead (2) were recent (an unprepared encounter against Triel).
I have 8 players but usually 4-6 presents. They are all experienced except one.
Oll
My blog (in french) :
http://oll.free.fr/ShackledCity/
Here are the updated stats after 23 sessions.
Creatures Killed By PC's: 224
PC Deaths: 1 (Ogre Zombie in the Kopru Ruins)
PC's Knocked Out (usually means 0 or less HP's): 29
Biggest Negative Hit Point Total: -16
Highest Attack Roll: AC 31 (twice, including one critical vs Tongue-eater)
Lowest Attack Roll: AC 0 (twice! - including one attack on an unconscious Skulk!)
Highest Saving Throw: Fortitude DC 26 (vs Bat Swarm's Distraction attack)
Highest Skill Check: Knowledge:The Planes DC 36
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 53 with a Dwarven Waraxe (vs Mud Slaad)
Most Melee Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 81 with a Dwarven Waraxe (3 hits vs Mud Slaad)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Hit: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Ranged Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Spell Damage Dealt in 1 Round: 14 with Melf's Acid Arrow (vs Silent Wolf Goblin)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Hit: 26 vs 2 Shocker Lizards (Lethal Shock attack)
Most Damage Taken in 1 Round: 35 vs Triel (2 hits from a Full Attack with a Heavy Flail)
Olaf the Stout