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Good Afternoon All!
I am a first time GM, and will be running my friends through the Module "The Dragon's Demand" I have read through the module several times to make sure I understand what will be going on and get a grasp on the module's dynamics. It seems to be very well written, but only for 4 characters. I will be running 6 though it, and don't see it being a major issue to change up encounters for 6 characters instead of 4. We will be using a wet erase map, so that I can draw out the areas for my players to move their minis around, and give added immersion for them into my game world. My supplies so far for GM'ing are The Dragon's Demand Module, Gamemastery Guide, Core Rulebook, Beastiary 1-3, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Advanced Players Guide, NPC Codex, and GM Screen. I also have normal graph paper, and 1 inch graph paper. I have been using the 1 inch graph paper to draw out the building layouts for the town, to allow my players to go into the buildings and see what's there as they interact with the town folk. I wanted these to be on scale graph paper so that I don't have to redraw the town buildings each time out of several that they will be going into the buildings. I also plan to flesh out some areas like the Large Wolf quest will have a map area drawn out for the encounter, the Grioth quest at the guys house will have a dedicated map area and encounter there as well. I will do this for content filler as needed, but don't plan on going overboard. I welcome any advice you have for a first time GM, so if you have any feel free to share!
Regards,
Will R. Everett, WA.
You seem well prepared, I wouldn't worry too much. My only advice would be don't let the game grind to a halt because there is a question about one rule. Don't be afraid to make a decision and move on, even if you find out later that it is the wrong decision. Keep the game moving forward. Nothing makes other players at the table more disinterested than the GM and 1 player arguing about the intricacies of a rule for twenty minutes.
You can always do other research and discussion away from the table. The players have input, but hopefully they understand the importance of everyone else's time as well.
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You, genuinely, seem well prepared materially.
However, it would be my suggestion to really think about how you will change the module for 6 players instead of 4.
When I ran this for my table for 4 PCs, I found that the module was extremely well modelled around the classing 4 man party. Having said that, some fights, I don't see how you can remodel to accompany for a 6 party table, without changing the encounter all together. Specifically:
The four lieutenant fights are fitted specifically for a 4 man party. Adding mooks to these encounters seems unnecessary, because your party is going to focus down the bosses in the first couple of rounds anyways. Unless your party is super underpowered, these can't 1hko a party member on the first turn, meaning your bosses will die very very quickly. So what was originnly meant to be a difficult fight, turns into a push over very quickly with 6 people.
Further more, the final encounter is CR11 and to be fought by 4 players. As soon as you add more, a similar thing happens with the lieutenants. The module is very specific as to how the players can make this encounter easier, which gives the GM very little leeway to make the right any harder. 6 players will find this final encounter way to easy and underwhelming (expeically if they do everything correctly - ei, close the Dark Window, Defeat the Leiutenanats, Find out the Dragon's True Name.]
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Also, the Module's exp progression is keyed to 4 players. You are going to need to tweak this for 6, and this is reasonably difficult to do for an unseasoned GM. If you intend on levelling up anyway as per the progression of the module, this ruins the difficulty of most fights. This is what I'm trying to stress here.
When I ran this for my 4 man, they found most of it rather generic in terms of difficulty. A 6 man party is going to steamroll most fights, even if you add more creatures or add templates.
You will also have to accompany for players getting bored at the table if they don't get a chance to do anything in combat. In my party, we had 3 DPS oriented characters. People going first had a great time, people going last, not so much. Some fights were finished in 1 turn. This wasn't because they were overpowered, but because the nature of some fights were to make the players feel stronger, to prepare them to get slaughtered in later fights. This would be even more felt in a 6 man party.
I wish you luck, however. Let us know how you pulled it off!
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I'll suggest hold back your party 1 level. Level them to 2nd at the expected time (to prevent instant death from 2nd level encounters), and then level to 3rd halfway between 3rd and 4th level as expected by the module. Then level to 4th when the module expects them to be 5th. Then normal level progression. Party should finish at 6th level.
I did this with Rise of the Runelords with 6 experienced players, and only needed to modify few of the encounters.
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Party should finish at 6th level.
If the party doesn't get access to level 7 feats for the final CR 11 fight, even if they do everything right, they will be slaughtered. Not to mention, some party members won't have enough HP to survive a round from the final boss. Lvl 6 is also an awkward level for some non-martial characters.
Yes, the additional 2 PCs would potentially aid the fight, however, a APL +5 encounter is still ridiculous with those numbers. An example:
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Party should finish at 6th level.If the party doesn't get access to level 7 feats for the final CR 11 fight, even if they do everything right, they will be slaughtered. Not to mention, some party members won't have enough HP to survive a round from the final boss. Lvl 6 is also an awkward level for some non-martial characters.
Yes, the additional 2 PCs would potentially aid the fight, however, a APL +5 encounter is still ridiculous with those numbers. An example:
** spoiler omitted **
Ouch! Did not know that. AC 36 is brutal for 6th level party. Sorry, haven't ran this module myself (though I want to), so was basing my 6-party experience with my last AP.
You want this. Trust me, I wish this had existed when I started GMing.
I've got another resource to recommend that might help you a lot, although the main advice here runs counter to Tealk's experience: namely, that adding mooks does help. Anyway, the table here has helped me a great deal in modifying the Jade Regent campaign I'm running & setting up a homebrew one. (I'm grateful to the folks here on the board who recommended it to me!)