Post by mister frau blucher on May 13, 2011 11:41:06 GMT -5
The question about order of adventures comes up frequently, so here are our thoughts. (please scroll to the bottom of this post for a great reference, compiled by Joe Reynolds and Platimus!)
Basically, we have two "low level" adventures (not including the free ones): Raid on Cygnosa and The Oracle's Breath. Both of these are designed for beginning characters, with 32 points and 4-5 skills. It would probably be best to run these as "either-or" for a party, rather than take the same party through both. A single party that goes through one will probably be overmatched for the challenges of the next.
This can be adjusted, however, if you desire to run them consecutively, by beefing up the opposition. Simply increasing the ST of each enemy by 1 (or more) will make the adventure deadlier on average. So if you ran through ROC and then went into TOB, it would work if most enemies had a ST increase of 1, or 3 if the enemy had a base ST of 20 or more. You can also elect to add an enemy to every other (or third) encounter. This is likely to result in more damage to the characters, as they would be receiving more attacks, so I would not combine these two ideas for lower powered characters.
The two free adventures, Orcs of the High Mountains and The Sorcerer's Manor, may be run before either of these adventures without upsetting the balance. TSM is longer and will generate more xp, probably enough to raise an attribute or a skill level, but a party will still be compatible with TOB or ROC.
After ROC or TOB, a party has several "mid-level" adventure options. If you play through all of these, you will advance a bit quicker than anticipated in the adventure and overmatch the opposition. So a party could go through two or three of these maybe before advancing to the "high-level" adventures. Mid-level would be Isle of Lost Spells, Wolves on the Rhine, Crown of Kings, and Sewers of Redpoint. These last two are tougher than ILS and WOR. Our upcoming adventure Thing in the lake fits in here as well.
By this time, the party will have 100 xp or more, and are ready for the toughest adventures. These include Fire In the Streets (actually not too much tougher than SOR, but there is a nice connection between the two when played consecutively), Gates to the Underworld, and the Dark Vale.
So a party might go through TSM, and then travel to Cygnosa, and they go through OHM on the way. After surviving ROC, they travel to ILS, and afterwards search for COK. Then they experience GTU and then TDV.
Another party might start out in search of TOB, and upon their return go through TSM. They then spend some time on the marches west of Redpoint and experience WOR, before getting caught up in SOR. Then They experience FITS, and then head out for TDV.
Given our number of adventures, now, it is tough to take the same party through all adventures and not overmatch them. You could do this, however, by increasing the opposition as noted above, either by increasing ST and/or number of opponents. One thing to keep in mind if elect to do this, however, is the design philosophies behind the encounters. The early encounters are generally designed to chip away at the party (but not every encounter is - some are meant to be very tough). The ultimate enemies at the end are the most dangerous encounters, but not as much so as other games; after all, by the time you get this far, you are kinda beat up. If you do play all adventures in a row with the same party, and increase the ST and/or number of the opposition, keep an eye on your guys too make sure you are not taking too little or too much damage.
I hope this generates some solid ideas for a campaign. But feel free to ask for elaboration - or share your own experiences.
As always, thanks for your thoughts and interest, and your support!
Bret
Edit: The Thing in the Lake is now out! It is listed as a novice adventure, but you do need some experienced characters. Rather than 32 points and 4 skills, you will need 34 points and 5 (or 6) skills. You could run through SOR and OHM and then be ready to attack TIL.
Edit Part 2: The new adventure Emerald twilight is a high-level adventure. When you have reached the end of one of the possible paths above, you are ready to progress to Emerald Twilight!
Edit 3:
Welcome to The Order of Adventure! Don't get too excited. You aren't a member of the Order just yet. First, you must pass a few tests...
(Don't worry. Visual aids will follow.)
BEGINNER: 32 point characters (Free)
The Sorcerer's Manor (TSM) link
Orcs of the High Mountains (OHM) link
NOVICE: 32-34 point characters (Recommend only 1 per party)
The Oracle's Breath (TOB) link
Raid on Cygnosa (ROC) link
Upon the Wind (UTW) link
Ebon Rebirth (ER) link
Punisher's Keep (PK) link
Echoes of the Old Ones (EOO) darkcitygames.com/display.php?series=law&id=33
Terrors of the Nights (TON) darkcitygames.com/display.php?series=law&id=36
INTERMEDIATE: 34-36 point characters (Recommend 2-3 per party)
Island of Lost Spells (ILS) link
Wolves on The Rhine (WOR) link
The Crown of Kings (COK) link
Sewers of Redpoint (SOR) link
The Thing in The Lake (TIL) link
ADVANCED: 37-38 point characters
Fire in the Streets (FITS) link
Gates to The Underworld (GTU) link
The Dark Vale (TDV) link
Shadows in The Dark (SITD) link
VETERAN: 38+ point characters
Emerald Twilight (ET) link
Visual Aid:
i.imgur.com/6ZwErNm.png
Thanks to "joereynolds" for doing most of the original leg-work. Thanks to Platimus for arranging it in this fashion!
Basically, we have two "low level" adventures (not including the free ones): Raid on Cygnosa and The Oracle's Breath. Both of these are designed for beginning characters, with 32 points and 4-5 skills. It would probably be best to run these as "either-or" for a party, rather than take the same party through both. A single party that goes through one will probably be overmatched for the challenges of the next.
This can be adjusted, however, if you desire to run them consecutively, by beefing up the opposition. Simply increasing the ST of each enemy by 1 (or more) will make the adventure deadlier on average. So if you ran through ROC and then went into TOB, it would work if most enemies had a ST increase of 1, or 3 if the enemy had a base ST of 20 or more. You can also elect to add an enemy to every other (or third) encounter. This is likely to result in more damage to the characters, as they would be receiving more attacks, so I would not combine these two ideas for lower powered characters.
The two free adventures, Orcs of the High Mountains and The Sorcerer's Manor, may be run before either of these adventures without upsetting the balance. TSM is longer and will generate more xp, probably enough to raise an attribute or a skill level, but a party will still be compatible with TOB or ROC.
After ROC or TOB, a party has several "mid-level" adventure options. If you play through all of these, you will advance a bit quicker than anticipated in the adventure and overmatch the opposition. So a party could go through two or three of these maybe before advancing to the "high-level" adventures. Mid-level would be Isle of Lost Spells, Wolves on the Rhine, Crown of Kings, and Sewers of Redpoint. These last two are tougher than ILS and WOR. Our upcoming adventure Thing in the lake fits in here as well.
By this time, the party will have 100 xp or more, and are ready for the toughest adventures. These include Fire In the Streets (actually not too much tougher than SOR, but there is a nice connection between the two when played consecutively), Gates to the Underworld, and the Dark Vale.
So a party might go through TSM, and then travel to Cygnosa, and they go through OHM on the way. After surviving ROC, they travel to ILS, and afterwards search for COK. Then they experience GTU and then TDV.
Another party might start out in search of TOB, and upon their return go through TSM. They then spend some time on the marches west of Redpoint and experience WOR, before getting caught up in SOR. Then They experience FITS, and then head out for TDV.
Given our number of adventures, now, it is tough to take the same party through all adventures and not overmatch them. You could do this, however, by increasing the opposition as noted above, either by increasing ST and/or number of opponents. One thing to keep in mind if elect to do this, however, is the design philosophies behind the encounters. The early encounters are generally designed to chip away at the party (but not every encounter is - some are meant to be very tough). The ultimate enemies at the end are the most dangerous encounters, but not as much so as other games; after all, by the time you get this far, you are kinda beat up. If you do play all adventures in a row with the same party, and increase the ST and/or number of the opposition, keep an eye on your guys too make sure you are not taking too little or too much damage.
I hope this generates some solid ideas for a campaign. But feel free to ask for elaboration - or share your own experiences.
As always, thanks for your thoughts and interest, and your support!
Bret
Edit: The Thing in the Lake is now out! It is listed as a novice adventure, but you do need some experienced characters. Rather than 32 points and 4 skills, you will need 34 points and 5 (or 6) skills. You could run through SOR and OHM and then be ready to attack TIL.
Edit Part 2: The new adventure Emerald twilight is a high-level adventure. When you have reached the end of one of the possible paths above, you are ready to progress to Emerald Twilight!
Edit 3:
Welcome to The Order of Adventure! Don't get too excited. You aren't a member of the Order just yet. First, you must pass a few tests...
(Don't worry. Visual aids will follow.)
BEGINNER: 32 point characters (Free)
The Sorcerer's Manor (TSM) link
Orcs of the High Mountains (OHM) link
NOVICE: 32-34 point characters (Recommend only 1 per party)
The Oracle's Breath (TOB) link
Raid on Cygnosa (ROC) link
Upon the Wind (UTW) link
Ebon Rebirth (ER) link
Punisher's Keep (PK) link
Echoes of the Old Ones (EOO) darkcitygames.com/display.php?series=law&id=33
Terrors of the Nights (TON) darkcitygames.com/display.php?series=law&id=36
INTERMEDIATE: 34-36 point characters (Recommend 2-3 per party)
Island of Lost Spells (ILS) link
Wolves on The Rhine (WOR) link
The Crown of Kings (COK) link
Sewers of Redpoint (SOR) link
The Thing in The Lake (TIL) link
ADVANCED: 37-38 point characters
Fire in the Streets (FITS) link
Gates to The Underworld (GTU) link
The Dark Vale (TDV) link
Shadows in The Dark (SITD) link
VETERAN: 38+ point characters
Emerald Twilight (ET) link
Visual Aid:
i.imgur.com/6ZwErNm.png
Thanks to "joereynolds" for doing most of the original leg-work. Thanks to Platimus for arranging it in this fashion!