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Hi all,
Our group will be having a 4 session break soon from our regular campaign due to a player's absence.
So, we have 16-20 hours to fill in for one DM and four players.
Any recommendations?
We have PFS characters in the Tier 3 to 4 bracket or we can role up new characters and play something entirely different.
Thanks in advance....
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Either PFS adventures or a single module or potentially an entire AP could work.
I've ran AP #2 The Skinsaw Murders for a small group with only a few sessions. To finish the entire AP though, it does take a little bit more than 20 hours, probably closer to the 25 hour mark for fast groups, 30 hours for average groups.
I find these little breaks to be a great time to roll up new PCs and try new stuff. You can still make the story dependent on your regular game, but tweaked from a different perspective. Ex. I ran a long campaign that was built around a Gnoll invasion. During the course of the adventure, the party came across several Kobold colonies who were trying to stay out of the conflict, but of course got dragged into it. When we took a break, we rolled up an all Kobold party, switched DMs, and ran a few session from their perspective. It was pretty wild, and a lot of fun, because we didn't have to spend all that time doing the exploring/expository stuff that you get in a new campaign, and we could just dive right in.
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I agree with "Ender RPM"; breaks like this are when you can let Players play monsters as PCs or play in the FR sandbox or the Planescape sandbox.
You could let the PCs be Kobolds sent on a mission into the Drow city to steal Gromph Baenre's favorite Wand. Sure, all the Players know their PCs are gonna die but it's fun. And the last one to still be alive gets bragging rights.
You could let the PCs be dragons and put them in a fight against an Abyssal army and their Balor General. Just a one encounter (very long) Session.
That kind of wierd stuff.
Or, you could just have one session like that and then do something else, more traditional, for the other three sessions.
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I've been doing that for years now -- not the specific "Cheese Grinder" per say, but a Tomb of Horros adventure marathon.
The Players make a handful of PCs at various high levels and then they each take one into Acererak's "tomb." When I kill one of them that Player gets to bring in his next PC. Players get bragging rights on how long their PCs survive and such.
I try really hard to use ToH and Return to ToH to design the various rooms so the Players know sorta what's going on cuz they've played through it before but little things are different: They're not sure which arch or doorway changes their gender; they're not sure which alters or items are covered in poison; fixed spheres of annihilation can become "unfixed" and roll down the tunnel threatening to "squish" little PCs -- that kinda shtick.
I've also used Clark Peterson's Rappan Athuk and some of it's rooms. Oh, and I used D2 and a few other adventures in the past. But mostly I try to stick with ToH homebrew remakes, rethinking the various rooms.
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I've been doing that for years now -- not the specific "Cheese Grinder" per say, but a Tomb of Horros adventure marathon.
The Players make a handful of PCs at various high levels and then they each take one into Acererak's "tomb." When I kill one of them that Player gets to bring in his next PC. Players get bragging rights on how long their PCs survive and such.
I try really hard to use ToH and Return to ToH to design the various rooms so the Players know sorta what's going on cuz they've played through it before but little things are different: They're not sure which arch or doorway changes their gender; they're not sure which alters or items are covered in poison; fixed spheres of annihilation can become "unfixed" and roll down the tunnel threatening to "squish" little PCs -- that kinda shtick.
I've also used Clark Peterson's Rappan Athuk and some of it's rooms. Oh, and I used D2 and a few other adventures in the past. But mostly I try to stick with ToH homebrew remakes, rethinking the various rooms.
Is Tomb of Horrors an older DnD adventure path or setting? That sounds perfect.
We are going to finish Burnt Offerings in a couple more sessions and then try out own cheese grinder for a couple of sessions. What you described is kind of what I had in mind.
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"Tomb of Horrors" by Gary Gygax was the adventure at Origins I in 1975. A few years later, in 1978, it was published for the 1st time as one of the first ever D&D adventures.
It's opening trap is famous for being the single trap in D&D history that has killed more than anyone else. That's the fixed Sphere of Annihilation I mentioned in my earlier post.
In 1999, for the 25th Anniversary adventure redos, Bruce Cordell was chosen to do the "Return to the Tomb of Horrors."
In Dungeon 116, The panel of judges for Best Adventures of all time, "Tomb of Horrors" was ranked #3 all time.
(Of course, that list was badly done as they combined 7 adventures into one and called it one adventure (Queen of Spiders) and then, they combined 3 adventures and called them one adventure (Desert of Desolation), and even again, they combined 4 adventures and called it only one (Scourge of the Slavelords). . . . Plus, they don't separate adventures of 27-32 pages from adventures with 100+ pages. Kinda like trying to compare "Carrion Hill" on the same list as Curse of the Crimson Throne.
EDIT
After more closely reading your post, I have to note that "Tomb of Horrors" isn't technically suppose to be a Cheese Grinder. It's just that, it is one.
...And about 10 or so years ago an old gaming buddy of mine was in town and so, for a special occassion, he played in my gaming group and instead of doing our planned campaign, I ran a one-shot of "Tomb of Horrors" letting all the Players know just how unfair and deadly it would be -- that they could make whatever they wanted (3.0 back then) and I would arbitrarily kill them all, just like the olden days of the early 80s.
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EDIT
After more closely reading your post, I have to note that "Tomb of Horrors" isn't technically suppose to be a Cheese Grinder. It's just that, it is one.
...And about 10 or so years ago an old gaming buddy of mine was in town and so, for a special occassion, he played in my gaming group and instead of doing our planned campaign, I ran a one-shot of "Tomb of Horrors" letting all the Players know just how unfair and deadly it would be -- that they could make whatever they wanted (3.0 back then) and I would arbitrarily kill them all, just like the olden days of the early 80s.
Yes, I assumed that you meant that it was just a really challenging adventure. That first trap does sound like a doozy.
I'll have to see if I can get my hands on that. So the remake came out in 1999? Do you know of any conversions that were done to 3rd edition or Pathfinder?
Also, what level are your players' characters when they go through this?
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Yes, there is a 3E update of the original "Tomb of Horrors." I don't remember what site it's at -- I followed a link from here a couple years ago and printed it out (so you can find it in the Paizo archives). I remember discussing it in a Thread back then -- the general consensus is that the 3E revision is considerably easier than the original.
That makes sense, though, considering how we play nowdays. In the original you would open a door and the DM would say, okay, your gender just switched. There would be no Save. Or, maybe you'd pick up something from an altar only to find out that it's covered in contact poison. If you didn't roll like a nat 20, you'd be dead. Not like, lost so much CON you may as well be dead but literally, dead. Write up a new PC while the DM tears up your old character sheet.
In the 3E revision it's much more like, you touch the altar and there's a DC 30 Fort Save to see if you take 1d10 CON.
The first was completely arbitrary. You cross a random spot in a room and your PC was probably not gonna survive. We don't play D&D that way anymore -- haven't since about the mid 80s.
The level suggestion for the 1978 "Tomb of Horrors" is 11-14.
Keep in mind that's First Edition 11-14.
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Here's a link to the (free! gratis!) 3.5 update of the Tomb of Horrors.
Thanks! I'll check it out when I get home.
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Yes, there is a 3E update of the original "Tomb of Horrors." I don't remember what site it's at -- I followed a link from here a couple years ago and printed it out (so you can find it in the Paizo archives). I remember discussing it in a Thread back then -- the general consensus is that the 3E revision is considerably easier than the original.
That makes sense, though, considering how we play nowdays. In the original you would open a door and the DM would say, okay, your gender just switched. There would be no Save. Or, maybe you'd pick up something from an altar only to find out that it's covered in contact poison. If you didn't roll like a nat 20, you'd be dead. Not like, lost so much CON you may as well be dead but literally, dead. Write up a new PC while the DM tears up your old character sheet.
In the 3E revision it's much more like, you touch the altar and there's a DC 30 Fort Save to see if you take 1d10 CON.
The first was completely arbitrary. You cross a random spot in a room and your PC was probably not gonna survive. We don't play D&D that way anymore -- haven't since about the mid 80s.
The level suggestion for the 1978 "Tomb of Horrors" is 11-14.
Keep in mind that's First Edition 11-14.
So what would First Edition 11-14 translate to in Pathfinder?
So what would First Edition 11-14 translate to in Pathfinder?
The 3.5 version is for level 9 PCs.
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Translating character level and such isn't so much the thing. It's more the thought that counts.
Back in the day, getting to level 11 would be like starting at level 1 and, using the slowest possible level-progression, going to level 19 or 20.
Juxtapose that with the gaming atmosphere where PCs get killed regularly. Back then, to survive even beyond 4th or 5th level was really cool. It didn't happen that much.
So, at a tournament in 1975 -- the first ever Origins -- "Tomb of Horrors" as an adventure for PCs 11-14 would be like, hmmm, like a Pathfinder Society Scenario for levels 11-14... In Season 0.
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Thanks guys.
We're D&D veterans so some of us have played Tomb of Horrors 1st Ed AND Return to the Tomb of Horrors 3rd Ed. Those that did still bear the mental scars ;-)
I did the spin off idea one time for my group when I was in the GM chair with the players forming a Drow party for a House mission, and it was a lot of fun. The GM running this campaign would probably appreciate the break to work more on the homebrew campaign he is running. The conversion for 15th Level characters from 3.5 to Pathfinder has been a challenge for us all. The implications in the changes of high level spells only become apparent in the context of the game!
Cheese Grinder sound like fun but I think our game style requires some meat and vege along with all that fatty dairy.
The Devil We Know series might just be the ticket!