XP in Burnt Offerings Anniversary Edition

[HiddenJester]

I'm running the RotRL Anniversary Edition, using the fast XP track as recommended. (I've thought about going XP-less and just leveling when the book suggests but I've found in other games the players lose interest in side-quests if they know I'm doing that.)

It seems to me that Thistletop has way more XP than it should, especially in the surface areas. My players hit third level right after starting Thistletop, as the book suggests but they've accumulated enough XP to hit level 4, and they haven't even gone into the dungeon levels yet! I looked ahead and it seemed like there was enough XP in the dungeon to get them well into 5th level, which is pulling way ahead of what the adventure says should be happening.

Did I do some math terribly wrong, or am I missing something obvious? I have 4 players, so everything should work fine just handing out the XP as listed, divided 4 ways, right?

Crunching some spoilery numbers:

Just looking at the goblins & goblin dogs in the palisade comes out to 12 of each, plus 5 commandos, which is 7420 XP. Divide that 4 ways and you get 1,855 of the 2,700 needed to advance from 3 to 4. Now add in all of the named NPC's, the traps and whatnot and it seems like the palisade alone is close to the XP needed for 4.

[Derek Vande Brake]

Hmm, I'm running it XP-less myself but in tracking the sources of XP as listed (and assuming a party of 4)...

Spoilers:

Level 2 would be achieved right after the fight in the Glassworks
Level 3 would be early in Thistletop - after the goblin refugees in the order in the book. I'm assuming the party WAS ambushed on the way to Thistletop, as mentioned in the book.
After getting across the rope bridge, and defeating every enemy in the hedge maze area except the Bunyip, they are 6475xp away from Level 4.
Level 4 is after the fight in the throne room, ignoring the trapped chest behind the privy. (I'll be adding that to reach Level 5.)
So yes, we are already at 4, which is technically not ahead of the adventure (all it says is that the players will reach 4 by the end).
Continuing on...
By the end of the adventure, skipping only Malfeshnakor and the Bunyip, they aren't quite at level 5... but pretty close.

So yes, they'll hit level 4 sooner than you might expect, but the guide doesn't say where they'll hit it. If they missed a few opportunities earlier (my players did), even adding in the two enemies I mentioned skipping might not bring them up to 5th level. Certainly, they won't be far into it. Considering the Skinsaw Murders indicates that they should be very close to 5th when starting, this makes sense.

[Trace Coburn]

Generally speaking, it’s unlikely the PCs will gather every single XP they could from any particular dungeon; they’ll miss some things, and ignore others as not worth the effort. Of course, your group may be ‘completionists’. :S

That being said, if things go just the right/wrong way, the PCs may find themselves looking down the barrel of a TPK. Ripnugget’s no pushover; Nualia is very dangerous as written, and she’s ‘tabled’ a fair few groups over the years; and if the PCs gain access to the lower level of Thistletop, they’ll meet some ‘hidden bonus bosses’ -

Spoiler:

the room full of shadows, the giant hermit crab, and the ‘boss of bosses’ Malfeshnekor the barghest

- who’ve wiped out more than their share of parties. Depending on their skill, good sense, and just plain luck, your PCs may need the extra clout of the higher levels just to survive running into them, much less hope to defeat them.