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1) What's your favorite experience level?
I've both played and DM'd (I've mostly DM'd though).
I love DMing the first two level tiers 1-5 & 6-12.
I love playing in the same levels.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
As a DM the reason is that the players can feel truly heroic in the Batman or Spider-Man mould, they are training to become the greatest heroes in the land, but know that there are great threats that sheer power won't be enough to defeat. At levels 1-12 the characters feel like characters from my favourite fantasy novels, films and games (the very media that 3.P is inspired by).
As a Player, combat doesn't take forever to resolve and buffing doesn't take too long either. No particular class seems to dominate combat and the group feels like a team. Plus I absolutely love the "Oh Sh#*!" moments when something big and scaly drops out of the sky unexpectedly. Combat hits that beautiful razor's edge.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
I've loved everything I've run from Dungeon Magazine, but my players have always loved the special Dudemeister Encounters I always fit into every adventure (usually an interesting challenge or NPC that the PCs interact with), which is really flattering. For example I turned the first adventure in the STAP into a murder-mystery set in the city of Sharn. Every encounter was brilliantly designed and written, and I love that I can add my own spin to the numbers and situations and still get amazing results.
The adventure I most enjoyed playing in was when I was a lowly level 1 fighter/rogue gestalt (Pirate) (3.0) who awoke with his new found party members after their prison ship was marooned on an island. The party had to improvise a lot to survive when the four only had clubs to use against the hostile wildlife and a mad druid who made his home in the area. Killing the druid and taking his Masterwork Scimitar still rates as one of the best treasures I've ever gotten. (Although the game I'm currently playing in rates a close second, I'm given to understand it's a modified Ill-Made Graves, I'm a level 7 half-elf cleric of Thor, and I LOVE IT).
1) What's your favorite experience level?
As a player I LOVE 1st lvl. As a DM I prefer 8 or so.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
I love the potential of a new story, I love starting things. Yes ending and wrapping things up are good too, but the shear number of ways the beginning can go always make it fun for me. (I tend to always like the first book or movie in a series the best for the same reason).
From a DMing perspective, I find the mid levels to be the easiest to predict the outcome of encounters and this means I don't have to worry as much in planning. I have a pretty good idea what the PCs capabilities are at this point and what they are likely to try. I am neither worried about a lucky roll on either sides part dropping someone (player or enemy) that changes how things progress nor am I dealing with so many capabilities that there is really a TON of ways the PCs could deal with the situation making it tough to plan in advance.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
Yikes... this is a tough one because there is a ton of good adventures that I have read. For what it is worth almost all have been from either Dungeon or Pathfinder under Paizo, (with the notable exception of Red Hand of Doom, which obviously has strong ties to Paizo folks).
I think, though, if pressed I would settle on Seven Days to the Grave. I really like urban adventures, I LOVE the imagery of a plague in the background with scheming nobles, and I really like that someone finally made diseases scary in D&D. I also really like the fact that there are no real large dungeons but instead a series of encounters that can be played out differently for every group who plays it. Good stuff.
Sean Mahoney
CEO
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1. 1-3 level as a DM and player. Not sure whether one or the other matters but some people may feel differently about playing or running a game.
2. I love the quick growth of a PC and the danger levels feel sharp. After that hit points seem to make life last a bit longer.
That pretty much sums up my feelings entirely!
-Lisa
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1) What's your favorite experience level?
Hmmm... 5-10 I think.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
Because the characters already get some fun stuff like 3rd-4rd lvl spells, iterative attakcs, feat chains - and yet, they don't have many world-breaking spells and abilities.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
The Skinsaw Murders, levels 4-7. It had a great mix of role-playing, horror storytelling, mystery solving and pure brutal combat.
The characters couldn't yet just scry-find the path-teleport across the mundane hurdles such as legal obstacles, horror haunts or stealthly villains.
And in the end, it had a TPK-able BBEG who required the players to fight for their lives and pull out all possible tricks to survive.
Oh, and it was written by Richard Pett, who is an absolute genius.
1) level 3-7 (NOT level 1)
2) Spellcasters get more than one or two spells, but not so many spells that they can never use them all. Also, you can start to see your idea for your characters starting to come together (e.g., if I want to play a fighter-magic-user-thief, my PC is starting to look like one by level 3).
3) Citadel by the Sea, from Dragon no. 78
1. Level 1-3
2. It's the least rules intensive.The numbers are small and manageable. The danger level keeps everyone alert and paying attention.
3. My favorite adventure so far is Beast of Burden by Mike Kortes.The setting was so creative and fun.I've never seen another adventure quite like it. My player's minds were officially blown.
I guess I'll chime in, too.
1) I normally prefer levels 3-9, but with the changes in the Pathfinder RPG where low-level characters are more survivable (and interesting) now, I think 1st level is the new 3rd. So, I'd say 1-9.
2) I prefer this range because I'm primarily a storyteller GM and like to take characters from "nobodies" and turn them into heroes over the course of a couple of adventures or a mini-campaign. Surviving 1st and 2nd level is usually the trick, though...and I'm glad that the Pathfinder RPG helps in that regard. After that, I typically start over with new characters once the "story" is told up to 9th level or so. That's because once the PCs cross the 9th level threshold, my interest starts to wane as they come into powers and abilities that make it less about the story and more about what they can do...which narrows down the encounters you can include because many of them are too easily overcome or made meaningless to such advanced heroes.
3) I've gone through a long barren period where I only get to GM rather than play. So my favorite adventures fall into one of two categories. As a young player just learning the game, I really loved and the Caves of Chaos. I also like ...and I think both of these adventures stick with me because there's a town in both of them, as well as an adventuring site nearby. That lets you explore both the roleplay and rollplay aspects of the game in equal measure. The second category of adventures are more recent and they involve Paizo's APs. I'm playing them via Play-by-Post here on the messageboards, but I'd say and are my favorites so far. We still haven't made it past 3rd level in either one, but the storytelling and roleplay/rollplay mix is just right. I'd also say I really, really liked as an introductory adventure. I think it's one of the best ones ever produced. I didn't get into Crown of the Kobold King as much, though. It's a bit too much of a meat-grinder for my taste.
My three-cents,
--Neil
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1) Favorite experience level: 5-10
2) Why: You can start to enjoy some fancy abilities before you decide if you want to continue into to the nastiness that is high level (nasty as in very hard fights, not rule system)
3) Favorite adventure: I have two favorites that I have played in.
The original 1e Ravenloft for levels 5-7. We were getting hounded by the BBEG time after time. We managed to force him into gaseous form but knew he would come after us again within 24 hours. So we started an immediate push into the catacombs in a desperate attempt to find his coffin, which naturally lead us to the hardest parts of the adventure, without resting. The win was desperate and perfect. I haven't read the 3.x version so I don't know how it compares.
Castle Amber. Levels 3-6. We entered with 8 PCs. We were getting picked off one by one or being transformed as we sought a way to escape the place. When we finally completed everything (with 4 functioning PCs left), the sigh of relief was very satisfying. This formula doesn't lend itself very well to 3.x because parties usually only consist of 4-5 PCs now.
Strange that both my favorite adventures involved situations that prevent a full retreat.
(I just ran a L20 playtest last night, so maybe I'm suffering from high level fatigue, too)
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) All of them. No, really.... Although I slightly favor 3rd level and up (even into epic levels), I enjoy playing (and even GMing) at all levels.
2) All levels have their own challenges/draws. At low level, simply surviving can be a challenge; from about 3rd level and up, survival becomes less of a concern, but resource management and character growth/progression (in both setting terms and system mechanics) are a big focus through the middle levels; high level and epic play gives the chance to use powerful abilities, items, and magic against major BBEGs.
3) It really depends on my mood for power range (low, medium, high, epic) and setting/theme (Arabian/desert adventure, classic dungeons, Gothic horror, investigation/ intrigue, sea- or space-faring*, etc.), but it's probably a toss-up between H2 The Mines of Bloodstone (level 16-18) or The Gates of Firestorm Peak (level 5-8). For H2, an insane vampire, an interesting dungeon, and an assault on a temple of Orcus culminating in (hopefully) preventing his summons. For Firestorm Peak, some good character hooks, clever use of Player's Option rules, and a... twisted take on the effects of the Far Realm.
*- Spelljammer is IMO an extremely fun, if slightly flawed, setting that suffered from poor support.
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) Third level.
2) Just start to get some abilities for your PC but still fragile enough to get blasted. Good for thinking around solutions.
3) Two really Ravenloft (6th?) was a treat to DM and the players really liked to horror/scary moments and Lair of Maldred The Mighty (12th) which combined combat and puzzle solving in a neat little package.
I still remember the Immortals boxed set with the cover art showing the heroes wading thigh-deep in molten lava.
IIRC, that was the cover of module IM1 The Immortal Storm.
<checks>
Yes, that was it. The boxed set had the male immortal jumping/flying off a ledge and shooting a beam of some sort from his hand, with a red/orange dragon (with a blue crest/spine ridge) behind him, a funky castle in the background, and multiple moons in the sky.
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1.) In Theory: 20-40
In Practice: 10-15
Note that I do enjoy adventures of all levels, particularly when they add large amounts of flavor to a world / campaign setting.
2.) I love planar / exotic locations for adventures. I greatly enjoy seeing beings of great power presented and goals of epic proportions being accomplished. I enjoy to see the wonders of distant and deadly realms that would shatter normal mortals. Characters at epic levels can have vast arrays of powers, and their foes are of equally great magnitude.
In practice, though, there are nearly no decent adventures available for epic level play. It just isn’t supported. The highest level bracket that I can reliably find quality content for is 10-15, beyond that it becomes sparser and sparser as the level numbers rise. While I could make my own content, I’m already busy doing that for the online game I run, meaning I prefer to have actual premade adventures for my pen-and-paper games; this leads to the epic levels I want to run being essentially unfeasible.
3.) Skeletons of Scarwall (12-14) sticks out in my mind as an awesome adventure. It has an excellent collection of villains, a highly atmospheric and sprawling castle (that actually allows a decently high level dungeon crawl of impressive size, which pleases me greatly), a variety of interesting treasures and effects (huzzah for the re-appearance of haunts!), and a quest of decently epic magnitude. It is well written, engaging, and of sufficient size (I like large / long modules). So, while I’m not definite it’s my favorite module of all time, it’s certainly up there.
Essentially, what I’d love to see is a planar/space-based megaadventure for epic levels.
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
Will post both from a player and GM point of view.
1) 3-12th
2) Thats when characters can start to do things and are no longer one hit one kill level. Beyond that and the work required to make a adventure starts going up geometrically it feels like and most high level published adventures suck. There is a few very good ones but not enough to carry a group from 12-20th and lack of variety.
So the 3-12th range is the most fun for the least amount of work.
3) As a player it was U1 Secrets of Saltmarsh 1-3, just because it was the first adventure I ever played in my life I remember it fondly for all the new wonder.
As a GM I would have to say I6 Ravenloft 5-7th I think. It was a step away from dungeon crawls, with more RPing than most at the time and was just very well written. The first horror adventure that I think actually pulled it off well. IMHO.
This is tough because the answer can be so relative. In other words, it is like asking me which type of food I like most. I love them all depending on the preparation, company, mood, etc.
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
One to Seven, or perhaps extend it to nine.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
I consider it the "adventurer levels", the best levels for adventures that makes your PC grown, involve itself in plots and life.
I view the levels beyond it as a kind of epilogue of the "grown levels", levels for clausure the open plots and for epic final, but no for the adventures itself.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
For D&D or other roleplaying games? Well I suposse the first.
My three favorites (sorry I'm not a man of one favorite) are: Four from Cormyr (TSR- Forgotten Realms), Rise of Runelords (Paizo Publishing- Pathfinder) and Witchfire (Privateer Press- Iron Kingdoms).
1) What's your favorite experience level?2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) 11 to 14, with the standard 3.5 rules. I wanted to go higher, but the workload and lack of support from publishers made it difficult to pull off.
2) I like surprises, but I'm as a DM still in control of the campaign. After that, its ALL surprises.
Besides, my players like having options, the more powerful the characters, the more creative the players seem to become. Which usually is good.
3) "Bastion of Broken Souls", 18-20 I believe. I usually never do "save the world" plots, so this was a very enjoyable change of pace. The adventure was beautifully structured, a true wotc gem, kudos to Cordell for that one.
At the other end, "Mad God's Key" was very good. Also well structured.
I am at my happiest between level 1 and 5.
Combats are fast, dangerous, and believable.
Weapons, even in the hands of ammatures can be deadly.
Human, humanoid and monsterous humanoid NPC's make by far the best villains.
The tasks, challanges and threats are easier to relate too.
The asperations of a character are more human.
My faverate adventure is either the skinsaw murders, the edge of anarchy, or seven days to the gave. Very hard to say which. Its partly due to level, partly due to the atmosphere of these adventure.
this might not be much of an answer, but i love all levels of play. if the story is good and the adventure is challenging, the game is fun, period.
that said, the freshness and danger of 1st level is always extra-exciting...
messy
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1. 1st through 12th.
2. At low levels PC choices for feats and skills have much more impact than later (a +2 really matters!). Encounters tend to be easier to run and classic monsters can still challenge the PCs. The game still has a medieval rather than a superhero feel. Interactions with "ordinary" people are on a more equitable basis. Beyond 12th level PCs begin to have uber-powers and spells which make calibrating encounters and challenges difficult. Mathematically the D20 system starts to break down past around 12th-15th level.
3. Keep on the Borderlands (1-3). I've run this many time for newbies and veterans alike. Relative to PC level it is very challenging but it has the right feel for a D&D adventure. I also liked running Temple of Elemental Evil and Necromancer's Tomb of Abysthor for similar reasons.
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Creative Director
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So, James, (and any other Paizo staff). What is your favorate level of play and most memorable adventure (style)?
1) My favorite experience level to play and to run is a tie between 1st and 13th.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level? Because it's the entrance into high level play. I like 1st because it's where you define your character's personality; things happen at 1st level that focus your ideas on your PC that last for the campaign. And I like 13th because you can throw some really powerful foes at the players (or fight them if you're a player), and can use a relatively wide range of abilities and powers.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure? My favorite adventure is "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure" (13th level or thereabouts) which we updated to 3.5 in Dungeon #112's "Maure Castle." I like it because it's pretty much the purest and most iconic "Dungeon" I've ever seen, mixed with a healthy sample of traps, creative encounters, classic monsters, demons, and cool villains.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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1) 8th-13th are my favorite
2) because at these levels, characters really come into their own and get to be good at their iconic abilities without depleting themselves too quickly either. At the same time, it's below the really high levels where it gets harder to make appropriate challenges for high level characters that aren't either too easy or easily avoided or too hard. I really like high level play, but find it's often too hard to play in that range because the specific mix of player abilities is so varied, that it becomes harder to find appropriate challenges.
3) The original Dragonlance adventures. In part because they had a great story behind them, and in part because they were essentially the first adventure path. I also liked that they had assigned characters that had specific ties to the game world and organizations that were featured in the adventure. It also was designed so that the characters rotated from one adventure to the next after the first few, as the adventures split the party into new groups. I think it would be an interesting experiment for Paizo to try something similar with characters intimately linked to Golarion (but not the iconics).
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3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure? My favorite adventure is "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure" (13th level or thereabouts) which we updated to 3.5 in Dungeon #112's "Maure Castle." I like it because it's pretty much the purest and most iconic "Dungeon" I've ever seen, mixed with a healthy sample of traps, creative encounters, classic monsters, demons, and cool villains.
Interesting. I would have thought maybe something more urban, for some reason. Perhaps Shackled City.
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) Anything from 15th level on; I really love anything that goes into the Epic levels.
2) Because this is when you get to use the really cool stuff. As a DM, you can take the gloves off with no guilt and just get crazy with the players. As a player, you should have some great magic items and also feats and spells. When your character can travel anywhere on a whim, fly at will and just is uber. It's fun to be uber; and to see all the things you have been planning and working towards come into fruition.
3) The H Series, especially H2 The Mines of Bloodstone and H4 The Throne of Bloodstone. I just remember as a player the fights, the epic battles. The DM would lift up his screen and reveal that we were fighting 100 Glabrezu, led by a Balor. It was 1st Edition of course, but the battle was just sheer madness, with spells, special abilities and massive damage just flying around the table. You just had reams of notes with all the stuff your PC could do and it was mind-boggling. The last two times I have built groups up to Epic Levels as a DM; we moved. Not this time! I'm getting my Epic fix damnit!
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1) What's your favorite experience level?
2nd-8th.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
1st has always been a little too squishy 'all or nothing' for me. Around 4th is perfect. 6th-8th is still awesome. Afterwards, characters start requiring journals worth of information, and stuff like Prestige Classes, which I generally avoid, rear their ugly heads.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
Against the Giants. Pure nostalgia, combined with a love of the fairly straightforward plotline. Keep on the Borderlands would be a distant second, again, out of pure nostalgia.
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
I mostly DM so this is from a DM perspective
1) probably 7th. range 4-11. But I seriously prefer campaign play over one shots so I have played 1-20 a few times happily.
2) have passed the point where a few bad dice rolls kill you but the power is not too hard to balance
3) probably for long campaign sake the Night Below campaign would just beat out Red Hand of Doom- I ran NB in 3.5 to 21st level- the feel of going into the wierd unknown, peeling back the layers to face an almighty and alien foe was superb.
Favorite Levels: 8-16
Why: Because that's where adventures actually begin to get interesting, AFAIC. Just think about what I would consider to be a somewhat standard Underdark encounter - 2 mind flayers with 4 umber hulk guards: that's an EL 12 encounter (in 3e terms). Or an aboleth with a bunch of minions. Etc. Those are the encounters that make the game, and they can't even begin until levels 8+.
Further, this is where the PCs have had the time and opportunity to make names for themselves, so they can do far more interesting things like meet leaders of towns/cities/entire regions, and even begin to lead small areas. There's more to the game then just killing things and taking their stuff at these levels.
Favorite adventure: Probably too tough to answer, but the first one that comes to mind is GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders. When converted to 3e, it coincidentally is for levels 8 - ~19/20.
Runner up: Savage Tide. (Yes, I'm cheating a bit.)
Honorable Mentions: Legacy of Fire, Curse of the Crimson Throne.
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
Level 8
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
This is the point when the character begins to feel like the concept you envisioned when you concieved of them. They still have exciting room for growth and good things to come (at least half of the joy of getting something, for me, is the anticipation of getting it as I plan and save up money for a video game or new toy of some sort), but you've got a couple of stat boosts under your belt and some cool abilities to wow your enemies with. Enough bad luck will still kill you, but you've got some ability to defend yourself against death. You're no longer some punk the local yokels feel they can mock with impunity, and you're at least worth the evil mastermind's time for his scrying spells and the like.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
My favorite adventure was Expedition to Castle Greyhawk. It was my first high level campaign (we usually petered out around 10th level or so due to real life busyness or DM fatigue), starting from 8th level and ending at 12 only because I had to move across the country. The DM was imaginative, weaving in our forays into Amber Diceless and plane hops with visits to high level versions of characters he created as a player in other games we played. It was a high powered game where we were free to create truly interesting characters, and yet none of us felt we were competing with the others for glory. In all, it was the most fun I've ever had at the gaming table, through many good groups and good games, and it's the yardstick by which I measure my own playing, my integration with a group of players, and my own DMing skill in every other game I join.
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) 1st - 12th.
2) After that, the entire game typically devolves into long, slogging combat sessions with billions of monsters. BO-ring! Also, intelligently-played casters dominate the game after that, to the point of edging out everyone else.
3)
In all, it was the most fun I've ever had at the gaming table, through many good groups and good games, and it's the yardstick by which I measure my own playing, my integration with a group of players, and my own DMing skill in every other game I join.
Wow... a tough act to follow! Hope this current campaign doesn't end up as too much of a disappointment...
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In all, it was the most fun I've ever had at the gaming table, through many good groups and good games, and it's the yardstick by which I measure my own playing, my integration with a group of players, and my own DMing skill in every other game I join.Wow... a tough act to follow! Hope this current campaign doesn't end up as too much of a disappointment...
The DM was new, but crazy, and good at rolling with punches, like us killing the naga and taking her treasures...which we weren't supposed to be able to do. As players we'd all had recent horrible experiences with hack and slashers, and were exploring roleplaying with new eyes. And the lack of competition was a first in a game for me. Usually there's a lot of one upmanship (seems to be mostly between male players) in games, and it tears through the integration of the party. For some reason that didn't happen this game. The high powered nature of the game ended up being a happy sandbox for us all to explore quirky ideas, rather than a lot of pissing contests over who was superior to who. It was an interesting time and an interesting group.
Honestly, if progression other than occasional feats, spells and stat blocks stopped at level 10, I'd probably be perfectly happy. I think that's why I like d20 modern so much - spellcasting stopped at level 5, and that feels like a good point for a nice fun gaming plateau.
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
well since there are no official rules for negative levels (i.e. starting out say -4 and getting to level 1) I'd have to go with levels 1-5
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
I love when you start as a normal person afraid of getting hit and slowly build to becoming a hero.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
Well, having not much experience with good DMs running pre-mades, I can only give you my favorite from DMing, and I've only ever DMed one pre-made adventure, Rise of the Runelords chapters 1 and 2.
I find I enjoy a couple ranges a bit more than others, specifically 12-16 or so, and 24-29.
The first is when you can really start throwing some heavy hitters at groups without worrying too much about one swingy fight resulting in a TPK. That lets you build the story you like, with the critters you want. Vampire lord? No problem. Great Wyrm dragons? - maybe with some planning, luck, and help. I also find this is a nice range where the more flavorful characters synergize a bit in the role-playing (building cathedrals, leading armies, writing epic ballads, etc.) - while not being too far behind the crunchy characters in power level.
The second is when I find that epic characters really come into their own and start to shine as *epic* - 2nd-3rd epic feats, but not built up to really overdone powers. Destroy the world? Done - now how do you get it back? Demi-gods fightable (if not necessarily killable without some assistance).
Favorite home-brew adventure was a "stop the spreading darkness" sort of thing that dragged these retired adventurers together (12th-16th level, 1st edition) against an entirely new threat they never realized they were causing in the past.
Favorite published adventure is the Quicksilver Hourglass (Dragon Magazine, level 30 - ran for 6-8 23-27th's). So immensely imaginative, and solidly put together.
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
It's worth noting that I'm answering these predominantly from a GM standpoint:
1) anything from levels 1-11.
2) I can challenge the players with a predominant number of monsters out of the monster manual. Several classic monsters remain dangerous to PCs (and can serve as key foes without advancing them) through all but the highest levels in this range. The rules also seem to work best at these levels and the game moves much faster. (BTW, we literally just finished the Age of Worms campaign this past Sunday… the world is safe after a 2 1/2 year campaign. The campaign itself was a blast, but the last several sessions went very slowly due to the vast amount of rules and abilities going on during battle, that for me personally, and some of my players mentioned it as well, that it took some of the suspense out of many of the encounters. We all had a great time playing this adventure, but are glad its over so we can start fresh at 1st level.)
3) I don't have a favorite adventure, but several. If I had to pick just one though, it would be the original Temple of Elemental evil. Others on my list: from the past: Rahasia (one of my favorite dungeons) and The Mines of Bloodstone (amazingly deadly and great adventure story), and The Keep on the Borderlands (what a great setup for an adventure campaign), more recently: The Red Hand of Doom (haven't played it yet, but I've read it and I know it'll be great when we do), and of the Age of Worms adventure path: The Whispering Cairn, Three Faces of Evil, and Into the Wormcrawl Fissure (but it must be said that I enjoyed every chapter).
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I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) Between 6-12. The "sweet spot" IMO.
2) The characters are hearty enough to handle some difficult challenges, but not so tough that they breeze through everything.
3) N1, Against the Cult of the Reptile God was my favorite low level adventure. Mid level, I really liked A 1-4, The Slavers Series.
Maure Castle was probably my favorite 3x adventure.
At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser or something, I'll mention that, as far as high-level (16th+) 3.0/3.5 modules go, "Wormcrawl Fissure" and "Thunder Below" are my favorites -- even though there's a lot of combat, they both feature interesting monsters/NPC villains and really unique settings. Coincidentally, James Jacobs seems to have written both of them.
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At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser or something, I'll mention that, as far as high-level (16th+) 3.0/3.5 modules go, "Wormcrawl Fissure" and "Thunder Below" are my favorites -- even though there's a lot of combat, they both feature interesting monsters/NPC villains and really unique settings. Coincidentally, James Jacobs seems to have written both of them.
It's because he loves horror films! I keep telling folks that a love of horror movies is critical for writing good adventures!
I think I like 5th-9th in most cases...but a few levels to either side of that are pretty cool.
M
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) 17 (16-20)
2) I finally get to use all of the spells and abilities of the class.3) Bastion of Broken Souls. The entire series was good.
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Creative Director
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Interesting. I would have thought maybe something more urban, for some reason. Perhaps Shackled City.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure? My favorite adventure is "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure" (13th level or thereabouts) which we updated to 3.5 in Dungeon #112's "Maure Castle." I like it because it's pretty much the purest and most iconic "Dungeon" I've ever seen, mixed with a healthy sample of traps, creative encounters, classic monsters, demons, and cool villains.
Although I wrote some and developed and edited all of Shackled City, I've never played it. So my memories of it are of a different type than of, say, "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure."
1) What's your favorite experience level?
3rd level to 9th.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
Level 6
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
It's an old adventure or compilation of adventures similar to how the adventure paths work out. I converted "Scourge of the Slave Lord" to 3E and we ran it. It went quite well but was lot of work converting it.
What I liked about that adventure had lots of role playing opportunities and challenged the players resourcefulness.
I did have to modify the adventure because a few areas felt way too railroaded for my tastes. I added more role playing and investigation and used that a lure to drive the players. I didn't have things like they just happen to go to tavern that is run by the slave lords and just happens to have key person working the that just happens to have key documents. The players spent quite a bit of time trying to find info in High Port.
I thought I'd create this thread to find out what everyone's favorite level to play and adventure are at! Please drop in a post here and answer the following questions if you're interested:
1) What's your favorite experience level?
2) Why is that your favorite experience level?
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure?
1) Around level 9.
2) You are just starting to get powerful and it shows, you have enough skills, health, spells, and gear for some interestng encounters and make them last.
3) Ravanger of Time I8, levels 8-10, it was just an awesome investigation and then final battle. The group was great too, we had an LN Human monk(former)/Wizard, an LN Dark Elf (1st ed (Fiend Folo)style pre Drizzt)) Fighter/Magic-User, an LG Human cleric of St. Cuthbert, a CG Human Female Wizard, an LG Human Fighter (archer style), and a CG Human Illusionist. The RP was great with the two LN spending a ton of time debating the lawful nature of fire in magic vs lightning. The two CG casters constantly getting us into trouble, and the Fighter always complaining about how he never got to use his bow around all these damn spell slingers. The cleric spent his time trying to keep us all from getting in trouble but usually failing. Oh and when we got aged...the fun just got well more so, half the casters got forgetful and would fail to cast their spells, the elf had a bottle of expensive elven wine on him that got aged 1000 year so you know there was a big deal made about how to not de-age that. What an adventure. I would say that we rarely played premades though so many of the best were home made and thus not applicable here.
1) 1 to 10, especially 3-5
2) you have to solve problems with good ideas and thinking out of the box, not just with a spell and an item, your character grows and evolves. 3 to 5: you don’t feel useless and have a few options but still have to be very careful and use your brain
3) as a player: red hand of doom, ravenloft, a spelljammer adventure i don’t remember the name of (but you had to beat a beholder to the heart of an ancient, death star like, beholder artifact – IN SPACE! And then a mindflayer stole our ship ON THE MOON and OUR PALADIN had to buy a new one on the BLACK MARKET, we ended with TWO spelljammer ships and a lot of firearms stored in our farms barn in Shadowdale and a humanoid Hippopotamus as our bodyguard), Barrow of the Forgotten King, the secret of bone hill (my first adventure ever)
As a DM: against the giants (hill giant part), Burnt offerings, the skinsaw murders, prison of the firebringer (yes, I know – high level), first part of age of worms,and a very old dungeon adventure about a wedding – i don’t remember the name
1) What's your favorite experience level? Hm. If I have to pick one out of 20? Probably 5 or 6. As a GM, my favorite level to run is probably somewhere around level 10.
2) Why is that your favorite experience level? It's usually for me, the first point where the character fully grows into the concept I have for it--she has enough feats, abilities, etc. to reflect a chosen fighting style and areas of expertise that set her apart from the group and show what her role is.
I think it's fun to play a character any level, but that's usually the point when I play one where I hear that "Ding!" that my character feels like what I want her to be.
For running at level 10, I find the PCs are tough enough I can throw some really neat things at them (some outsiders, etc.), but they're not so tough that it's still pretty easy to find unique challenges for them.
3) What's your favorite adventure, and what level was it for? Why is it your favorite adventure? To my knowledge, apart from a few demos, I've always played adventures designed by my GMs, rather than something "out of a box." (If the GMs were using pre-published adventures, they were being quite clever about hiding it, or were embellishing a lot.) My favorite game of D&D that I played? Hard to say, but for good adventure design, I'd say a mid-high level game (I think we started at 9) that took place in Chult in the Forgotten Realms. Jungle crawling instead of dungeon crawling was cool, for a change. I had zombies explode on me.
Best adventure I've run is the campaign I've been running, which started at level 14. (There's a journal of it being kept by Lathiira down in the Campaign Journals section, called "To Slay the Immortal".) Why? Largely 'cause the players keep me on my toes. ^^ I can't exactly compliment the design; I know I made it a little too complicated in trying to give my players multiple roads to travel.