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Hi.
We will be runing this at the end of the month here in Portugal at a CON , and since this an "old Scenario" , i´m wondering if anyone has already any "gaming helps" for this?
Monster stats , skill checks table, gaming aids , visual presentations for the Overseer ( much like those done of this year´s special) , etc...
This , and nay tips/advices would be greatly appreciated to help the experience be better for the players and easier for the GM´s.
Thanks in advance .
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How many tables are you anticipating / how big is your gaming area?
We ran it here with 5 tables, and as a result were able to get the overseer GM a lot of chances to make announcements that got all the players excited at the accomplishments of others - like in the arena near the beginning, any time a group took down a dragon, the GM flagged the overseer who announced it, and got everyone to cheer.
There was also the giant door thing - we let our players put their heads together and figure out who would "lead" the roll, and then every table rolled strength checks to aid - the table GMs added them up and brought them to the overseer, who had everyone wait/watch as the "lead" PC roll, and then added up the total from the aids from all the tables before announcing the success - that got all the players hand-shaking and high-fiving each other as they pushed further in. Some of the tables weren't able to finish their fights with the goblins inside as a result, but we ran it that way as a way to make it more exciting for the PCs, and had the table GMs make the goblins withdraw at the end of the 30 minutes for that part.
With the black dragon, we had table GMs flag the overseer each time a lower level party triggered a tail-slap - the overseer announced it, and we gave the table GMs for 10-11 the ability to use that if they wanted to "take it easy" if their table were in trouble, either to remove its tail for one round as an attack, or to give the dragon a -1 for being distracted, or something - again to give the players the sense that the efforts at each individual table *was* contributing to other tables as well.
Most importantly, I'd say to make sure all your table GMs and overseer have a meeting before players start sitting, to go over the timing for each phase, and especially the Code White and Code Gray and Code Black at the end - again, a chance for PCs to help each other (at ours, the 10-11 table was getting their butts handed to them and it was the 3-4 table that saved them, essentially!).
For the maps of skyreach, we split the map image into 8x10 sections and then printed them out, using scissors and tape to assemble them to save the GMs the hassle of trying to prep that whole complex in advance (and fortunately had enough arena maps for everyone - the market we had to improvise a bit for, though).
It's been awhile since we ran it here, but those are the highlights that I remember that helped us plan. If you'd like the image files I did for ours (not the best work I've done with maps, but still), let me know and I'll email or dropbox them to you.
Hope some of this helps!
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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Okay, so next week I'm going to be acting as Overseer live for four tables of this special. Mike, I love some of your suggestions here. Everyone else, what can I do to make this scenario pop?
This is my very first time acting as an overseer, and I want to give everyone a fun and well-organized experience.
Hmm
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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One thing we are doing is providing Hersey Kisses (a chocolate candy) to every table. We are suggesting that the GMs use these in place of the
Still working my way through the scenario, some of it seems like there would be dead time where the Overseer gives an announcement, the table GM gives some short information and then waits for the overseer.
Anyone have that problem?
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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Question on the end boss.
Why studded leather and Mage Armor as a spell known?
Do people ditch the armor and just use the spell or roll ASF each time he attempts to cast a spell? Am I missing something where he can cast without the ASF chance?
How have people run this in the past?
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Even carboard printouts help. Seeing a huge mini plopped down will cause a stir :)At a 3-4 table, yes. I think the pawn I had was one or two categories older as well.
It will help with the last area as well. Plop down the dragon and a few minis representing the high level table(s) (or if no one wants to engage the dragon, a couple of venture captains), and no one will dare tarry in front of the door.