CarpBrain
Sergeant
503 Posts
    
 | | 06/05/2005 8:47 AM |
| | recovered topic 4400 | |
Brian Carpenter - 6th level Human Physicist | |
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CarpBrain
Sergeant
503 Posts
| | 06/05/2005 8:47 AM |
| What level game are you running? Low, Middle or High?
As for WotC adventurers, I would recommend The Sunless Citadel, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, City of the Spider-Queen (with some updating to 3.5) and all of the Eberron adventures.
However, if you really want the most bang for your buck, go with some Dungeon magazines. The most recent issue (#124) just began a new Adventure Path called The Age of Worms which looks to be excellent. It also contains the second part of an Eberron trilogy of adventures. Month to month, Dungeon always produces useable and unique adventures.
Of course, any thread on adventures (can you tell that I like them? [:)]) wouldn't be complete without my whole hearted recommendation of Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games and the adventures published by Necromancer Games. In fact, if you want to try out Necromancer Games stuff, here's a link to a free adventure by them called the The Wizard's Amulet. | |
Brian Carpenter - 6th level Human Physicist | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/05/2005 5:25 PM |
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Yesterday I drop by LGS and pick up an Eberron module, shadow of the last war. Looks cool just browse throught a few page of the module, it is for 1st lvl PCs as I did not read carefully before my purchase.
Frist encounter..... warforged... Cool!
CarpBrain, Thanks for the recommendation to Necro games site for that free module.
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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Testament
Underboss
1397 Posts
| | 06/05/2005 9:46 PM |
| The Eberron series actually goes:
The Forgotten Forge (from the campaign sourcebook)
A Queen With Burning Eyes (Dungeon adventure)
Shadows of the Last War
Whispers of a Vampire's Blade (which needs work and a bit of revision!)
Grasp of an Emerald Claw (which is one hella tough adventure!) | |
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Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2350 Posts
Australia
| | 06/05/2005 11:52 PM |
| "Queen with the Burning Eyes" isn't really part of the Eberron series. Later adventures make no reference to it. It is just another adventure - it makes reference to The Forgotten Forge because that's in the ECS, but it isn't intended to be run between it and Shadows.
The Forgotten Forge (ECS); Shadows of the Last War; Whispers of the Vampire's Blade; Grasp of the Emerald Claw
I'm one or two sessions away from finishing the series. [)]
Whispers went exactly as it should.
Cheers! | |
Merric Blackman
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/06/2005 5:57 AM |
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Anyone try out, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, is it good??
How tough is Grasp of the Emerald Claw?? Will it cause Total party kill when not run properly??? As a DM, I am still new, never really try out this pre-made adventure module.[:P]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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Testament
Underboss
1397 Posts
| | 06/06/2005 6:37 AM |
| Reading through "Grasp of The Emerald Claw", my conclusion is simple.
Underprepared and underequipped parties are going to die. They will die horribly, and in short order if they go in stupid. Make sure your PCs are tough enough level wise to take on this module, since it can be a real slog.
Like any tough mid to high level module, it can TPK when not run properly. Just do your basic prep work, and be aware of the abilities of the monsters involved, though, and things will go fine. I'm particularly thinking of one particular kind of undead monster in "Grasp" that has a potentially TPK inducing ability. Don't 'grudge-run' your monsters, run them according to their intelligence and tactics blocks (when provided).
Trust your judgement and you'll be fine. Aim for a Total Party Traumatisation, rather than a TPK, IME players tend to remember fights where the entire party's combined hit point total fell to single digits, but they still won, SOMEHOW, through sheer guts. I know I love those sorts of fights, anyway. | |
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8-Bit Chibi Goths forever!
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My Have/Want List, (Updated July 6 2004, will be updated soon)
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Jeb McDonald
Sergeant
400 Posts
Central New Jersey
| | 06/06/2005 7:58 AM |
| | I'm really enjoying some of the material from Necromancer Games. In particular, any of the Rappan Athuk series or Trouble at Durbenford. Note: Rappan Athuk is a TPK just waiting to happen, but it will be a ton of fun anyway! | |
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you? | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/06/2005 9:03 AM |
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After my work I drop by my LGS to pick up, "Grasp of The Emerald Claw", but luck wasnt on my side...out of stock.
So I bought," Kingdom of Kalamar, The Roots of All Evil"(30% discount) and "3.0 D&D Adventure Games"(Half-price). The Store owner told me it is for low lvl encounter...... but I still bought them as I can always increase the encounter LvL[)]
After browsing throught " Kingdom of Kalamar, The Roots of All Evil" I found it to be damn detail...... skteched picture of NPCs, locations, maps ,"battle-field" and even ramdom encounter table. Good catch for me.
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/07/2005 10:56 PM |
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Done reading "Shadows of The Last War". From the module, Rose Quarry is one place that might cause TPK if the PCs are reckless.
The encounter for rose quarry look quite tough but I dont belive it to cause TPK.... so I dicided to try it out, with myself[:D].
I used my PCs stats and followed the book in running the encounter. Pcs failed a Move Silent check and got spotted .... engaged and it end pretty fast with one failing Fear and the other going down to Emerald Claw Soldiers beating[:(]
Now it made me wonder what will happen if I get to run "Grasp of The Emerald Claw"[:D]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2350 Posts
Australia
| | 06/07/2005 11:27 PM |
| During the play of Shadows, my players were spotted by the ECS, but retreated to the cart (and the ridge) and then came back later. This time they snuck into the quarry, and all went well.
Cheers! | |
Merric Blackman
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kestrel.ca
Underboss
1677 Posts
| | 06/07/2005 11:51 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Goldmoon
Done reading "Shadows of The Last War". From the module, Rose Quarry is one place that might cause TPK if the PCs are reckless.
The encounter for rose quarry look quite tough but I dont belive it to cause TPK.... so I dicided to try it out, with myself[:D].
I used my PCs stats and followed the book in running the encounter. Pcs failed a Move Silent check and got spotted .... engaged and it end pretty fast with one failing Fear and the other going down to Emerald Claw Soldiers beating[:(]
Now it made me wonder what will happen if I get to run "Grasp of The Emerald Claw"[:D]
Rose Quarry was a TPK for me. But then again, I was stupid. I figured a published adventure would have level-appropriate challenges, and I was pretty confident in my characters. I went for an all-out assault! [:0] Managed to take out most of the mercs, and half the others before my sole survivor abandoned his dead/dying "friends" and high-tailed it out of there. I guess not every encounter is supposed to be defeated by strength of arms. [B)] | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/08/2005 4:07 AM |
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Got one survivor, the one that got Fear and ran off... the remaining got a beating from the ECS.[B)]
Look like if Im running the module, I need to tip off my PCs to prevent TPK.[)]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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PatEllis15
Commander
4462 Posts
| | 06/08/2005 7:54 AM |
| quote:
Anyone try out, Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, is it good??
I'm running it now. I like it, but it's not something you can use for a session or 2 if you have writers block... it really is a campaign in and to itself.
It is a very tough module, and I think the piece of it they ran at RPGA events has the unenviable record of being the RPGA module with the most TPK's. As such I'm starting my PC's at 5+ level, instead of 4th...
Pat E | |
"Games evolve. Otherwise we'd still be pushing rocks around the dirt. What do you think the cavemen said when some dude showed up with sticks?" - Chairman7w | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/09/2005 2:28 AM |
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Look like I need to get my hands on Eberron series and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.... I think these few will last for quite a while.
Thanks for all the feedback and recommendation.[:D]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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The Mighty
jai
Commander
3235 Posts
| | 06/09/2005 8:27 AM |
| | Pickup Dungeon Magazine. $5 and 3 adventures (low, mid, high) ... | | | |
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Mixmaster
Sergeant
387 Posts
| | 06/09/2005 12:02 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by jai
Pickup Dungeon Magazine. $5 and 3 adventures (low, mid, high) ...
Jai,
If it's a subscription. If not, it's $6.99/issue
Goldmoon,
You still haven't told us what level but still....
Good/Great Low level mods:
Kenzer - The Coin Trilogy, Invasion of Arun'Kid or Stand and Deliver
Necromancer - Wizard's Amulet & Crucible of Freya or Barakus
Goodman Games - the 1st 2 and their latest is for 0 lvl characters.
Wizards - Sunless Citadel & Forge of Fury (must pimp that Vesuvius has done the tiles for both these mods and it's VERY WELL DONE.)
Rappan Athunk? Deathtrap (but fun)
Return/ElementalEvil? Long and a meatgrinder.
City/Spider Queen? Good, but the DM has to put the sense of urgancy into this.
Midlevel
If you can get Banewarrens (Monte Cook). Pure & fun midlevel goodness.
Any midlevel Necromancer Games mod. They're mini-campaigns. | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/10/2005 12:14 AM |
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Mostly like it will be mid lvl but it okie I can always increased the CR to match them[)]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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Frederyck
Sneak
133 Posts
Uppsala, Sweden
| | 06/10/2005 7:01 AM |
| quote:
City/Spider Queen? Good, but the DM has to put the sense of urgancy into this.
One of the problems with "City..." is that there are som many encounters that rely on the PCs acting really stupid. For example, stopping all the time when using Wind Walk (a spell which they are almost certain to use).
Once they reach the city proper, however, I think that it is a really neat adventure. | |
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. | |
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The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
11217 Posts
The Dark and Forbidding Lands of The Necromancer.
| | 06/10/2005 7:07 AM |
| I played the first part of City of Spider Queen, but the DM got bored with it and just chucked the whole thing. I was not pleased.
He was bored running essentially what he called one big dungeon crawl. | |
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Frederyck
Sneak
133 Posts
Uppsala, Sweden
| | 06/10/2005 7:12 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Ghendar
He was bored running essentially what he called one big dungeon crawl.
Exactly - the path to the City is in very select places interesting, but on the whole it is just a big crawl to the cool parts of the adventure. The city itself with the warring factions is very playable IMO. | |
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/10/2005 2:07 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Frederyck
The city itself with the warring factions is very playable IMO.
Correct me if Im wrong, the houses within the city are pitting against each other before the PCs arrive??? If so that will be cool, lots of 'path' for the PCs to choose from.... but tough on the DM so much thing need to record.
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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MrWalrus
Sneak
76 Posts
| | 06/10/2005 4:43 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Goldmoon
Done reading "Shadows of The Last War". From the module, Rose Quarry is one place that might cause TPK if the PCs are reckless.
The encounter for rose quarry look quite tough but I dont belive it to cause TPK.... so I dicided to try it out, with myself[:D].
I used my PCs stats and followed the book in running the encounter. Pcs failed a Move Silent check and got spotted .... engaged and it end pretty fast with one failing Fear and the other going down to Emerald Claw Soldiers beating[:(]
Now it made me wonder what will happen if I get to run "Grasp of The Emerald Claw"[:D]
My group just finished running Shadows of the Last War, and Rose Quarry didn't turn out as badly for us as it could have. We got lucky in that my Gnome Bard managed to see and recognize the Emerald Claw Soldiers before they saw us, and we backtracked around and came in from the north. That way we only had to fight a few Claw Soldiers and some of those weird dwarf glass-zombies. For my group the final encounter in the dungeon was the closest to a TPK (my bard and a nearly dead human warlock were the only ones still mobile), and the final encounter of the adventure was second closest. | |
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2005 D&D Miniatures Champion
Fenris
Sergeant
974 Posts
| | 06/10/2005 10:27 PM |
| | If you're going to GenCon or any other reasonably large convention, there's usually a dealer selling modules for cheap. I saw one guy selling modules for $1 each one time. I picked up quite a few, thinking that even if I only lift one encounter from each one, it's worth it. | |
Read my championship tournament report.
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arbados
Underboss
1407 Posts
New York, USA
| | 06/10/2005 11:56 PM |
| | Run City of the Spider Queen. Great module, but pretty nasty!!! Underdark is always fun. try it out . | |
Give me more MIND FLAYERS! | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/11/2005 12:50 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by MrWalrus
For my group the final encounter in the dungeon was the closest to a TPK (my bard and a nearly dead human warlock were the only ones still mobile), and the final encounter of the adventure was second closest.
Yap, almost forgot about that part when garrow appear from no where, from what I know about my PCs...... they will fight it out with garrow and ECS.
To them, what with a few skelly and human warrior[:D]
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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glauron
Underboss
1379 Posts
Sydney, Australia
| | 06/11/2005 5:46 AM |
| Eberron spoilers
Not being into TPKs, I took my players through the Eberron story as follows:
Forgotten Forge
Queen with Burning Eyes, but no final encounter - saving Emerald Claw for SotLW
Shadow of the Last War - as L3 party, made some mods to encounters, beat them up bad, but no fatalities. They wimped out at the end and gave the vampire what he wanted.
Whisper of the Vampire Blade - heavily edited as Testament suggests. I cut the stagecoach chase, but the airship battle was epic. One fatality. The pyramid was also much tougher.
Grasp is a work in progress, but the players are loving it.
I'm going to use a Necromancer Games publication called the Vault of Larin Karr as the framework for ongoing Xen'drix adventures - humans branching out from Stormreach have set up a community in the jungle. Three village centres: farming, industry, and mining (dragonshards!)
Of course, our heroes will find lots of giant and drow around as they search for loot and defend the settlers. | |
I have always been here. | |
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megamadrat
Sneak
126 Posts
| | 06/12/2005 9:16 AM |
| Return to ToEE is a fairly great module map and encounter wise, but it can be severely lacking in party motivations beyond there's stuff to hit in this direction. If you wish, e-mail me and I can send you my list of modifications I made to parts of the module for the purposes of balance/CR increase/decrease
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Einstein would turn in his grave;
God does play dice, and the dice are loaded!
My left nipple is in fact a horcrux.
Do not tweak the horcrux, it belongs to the Dark Lord! | |
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Frederyck
Sneak
133 Posts
Uppsala, Sweden
| | 06/13/2005 2:35 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Goldmoon
Correct me if Im wrong, the houses within the city are pitting against each other before the PCs arrive??? If so that will be cool, lots of 'path' for the PCs to choose from.... but tough on the DM so much thing need to record.
Yep, the War of the Spider Queen is happening with or without the PCs interfering. They just have to suck it up and handle the consequences. It can be a bit of record keeping, but there is plenty of help with that in the module. (An extensive time record of when things are supposed to happen etc - all you have to do is keep track of the changes that the PCs create.) | |
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. | |
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Goldmoon
Sergeant
986 Posts
| | 06/13/2005 9:19 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by megamadrat
If you wish, e-mail me and I can send you my list of modifications I made to parts of the module for the purposes of balance/CR increase/decrease
Thank you very much for the kind offer but I yet to own Return to ToEE[:P] as only recently I turn to ready-made module for game.
My LGS run out of stock for Grasp of Emerald Claw so I might want to complete the whole of Eberron series.
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"HA! Activate take 10 and you cant hit me."
"Once I start, I will not flater."
"BLOOD make the grass grow!" | |
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