Starting a campaign at a higher level (or progressing at a faster rate)

[DevP]

Has anyone had experience with either of these options in 4E? Once I feel steady at running things at a normal pace, I'm curious how much the game will hold up (with possibly new 4E players) with a higher level start or accelerated progression. I'd like to see if I can cover more of the features/options in the game if I have fewer sessions available. (Of course this isn't required; lounging around 4th level can be fund enough I figure.)

[fuzzlewump]

Originally Posted by DevP

Has anyone had experience with either of these options in 4E? Once I feel steady at running things at a normal pace, I'm curious how much the game will hold up (with possibly new 4E players) with a higher level start or accelerated progression. I'd like to see if I can cover more of the features/options in the game if I have fewer sessions available. (Of course this isn't required; lounging around 4th level can be fund enough I figure.)

I have played/DMed more campaigns in 4E starting at higher level than not, so I of course support the idea. My current campaign has started at 11th level, and for the most part, it's not much more complex than starting at level 1. Character creation no doubt takes longer, but actually playing is not horrible leap in difficulty.

You gain more and more powers, but it's not like every new power is a hard choice to make. Generally, there are situations to use every power and the hardest decision is to pick the power in the first place. As far as new players, I started with completely new players at level 5, and while the wall of powers is daunting, they took it on with ease. Whether it's level 1 or 11, new players just need the concept of at-will, encounters, and dailies explained along with the core mechanic (d20 + whatever,) and the amount of times they use those concepts doesn't make the difficulty increase substantially.

[Mathew_Freeman]

I've also had some experience with accelerated progression and starting at higher levels.

In August of last year, I ran a short campaign starting at 11th level. Although character creation was a little tricky, and I'm sure the players weren't operating at full power in terms of tactics, all the players agreed that it was perfectly do-able and that they enjoyed the experience.

I've also ran a one-shot at 16th level. The character builder was of great assistance for this, and again the players reported no problems during the actual game.

In my actual campaign I've started ignoring XP and just levelling up the party when I seems right to do so. We're running Thunderspire Labyrinth at the moment and when they cleared the Chamber of Eyes they went from 4th to 5th level, when they finished the Horned Hold they went from 5th to 6th. It's working out fine.

I'm also playing in another campaign, and even in that we're levelling every other session. Even though each session is only three to four hours long the progression doesn't seem to fast, and we're getting a good grip on our characters as we go along.

[mlangsdorf]

My group doubled XP awards for characters between 1st and 5th level and increased them by 50% from 6th to 10th level. It let us rise up fairly quickly to the interesting levels while we were still learning the game, but it wasn't overwhelming.

We don't tend to get as much XP per session as WotC recommends, so I think it balances out fairly well.

[weem]

My campaign (started back when 4e came out just over a year ago) has had 23 game sessions. These last 5 hours on average.

The players were level 9 by session 21.

This was too slow for us. So, I ran an "individual" game, one for each player in one month. Basically we hit a point in the story where the players needed to split up to accomplish individual tasks that would help them accomplish something bigger when they got back together. So, for example, one game followed the Fighter and the other players played new (quickly made) characters that were helping him with the understanding that during this time their primary characters were off doing their part. Next week, we played a game for the next player, etc etc.

At the end of each of these, the players leveled their character to 12 to a) bump them into paragon which we wanted to hurry up and get to and b) to simulate how important these individual tasks were and how much time had passed when they finally got back together.

This worked out very well for us. I currently do not give XP, I just level them when I feel it's appropriate.

For my next campaign, we have decided they will start at level 4-5 and we will level them each game session (1 level) until they get into the paragon tier and then we will slow it down to a more standard leveling rate at that point since it is the paragon tier they would like to have more time in (the current campaign now has them at 12 as I mentioned, but it is coming to an end soon).

[the Jester]

Originally Posted by weem

My campaign (started back when 4e came out just over a year ago) has had 23 game sessions. These last 5 hours on average.

The players were level 9 by session 21.

This was too slow for us. So, I ran an "individual" game, one for each player in one month. Basically we hit a point in the story where the players needed to split up to accomplish individual tasks that would help them accomplish something bigger when they got back together. So, for example, one game followed the Fighter and the other players played new (quickly made) characters that were helping him with the understanding that during this time their primary characters were off doing their part. Next week, we played a game for the next player, etc etc.

At the end of each of these, the players leveled their character to 12 to a) bump them into paragon which we wanted to hurry up and get to and b) to simulate how important these individual tasks were and how much time had passed when they finally got back together.

That sounds like a very cool approach and a fun way to do it. It also serves another purpose- it helps establish potential backup characters!

[weem]

Originally Posted by the Jester

That sounds like a very cool approach and a fun way to do it.

Thanks It worked out very well for us - the games let us dive into their backgrounds which was a blast and each one of them had a weekend where the spotlight was on them so they enjoyed it.

My next campaign will have them starting at level 4 or 5 and will have them level once a session till we hit Paragon (so 6 games or so) and then it will slow to a level every 2-3 games. I may do the same thing again (as I mentioned above) when they get to 9 -- run some individual games that move them (and the story) into the Paragon tier, advance them maybe 2 levels, etc.

Originally Posted by the Jester

It also serves another purpose- it helps establish potential backup characters!

Yes it does. In fact, we had a new guy join at that time, so was to play a backup character in each of the other guy's stories and then in the end decide on one he liked and continue with him through the rest of the campaign (he went with a rogue that he played during the Wizard's individual game).

[Quartz]

Originally Posted by weem

So, for example, one game followed the Fighter and the other players played new (quickly made) characters that were helping him with the understanding that during this time their primary characters were off doing their part. Next week, we played a game for the next player, etc etc.

Now that's very cool. A very good way for players to try other character classes too.

[babinro]

I've never actually run a 4E campaign following the exact rules for level gain. I tend to create an adventure and simply tell the PC's they've gained a level when its done. Typically the adventure spans about 4-6 encounters depending on how the approach it...which is more or less x2 rate of experience. Since no spells or powers have an XP penalty associated with it, I see no reason to provide strict XP numbers at this point.

On a side note...there aren't that many monsters to choose from for many of the levels, so setting up 10 or so encounters required to fill a level without making monsters repetitive can be challenging (especially if you want to keep custom enemies to a minimum)

As for starting at higher levels...we typically start around levels 3-5...simply because there are more monster/trap options to work with. I've had no problem with that. Never started a game in higher up levels though

[Skallgrim]

Also, if you'd like to progress a bit more quickly, perhaps to "sample" all of the levels, consider doing a "Dungeon Delve" campaign.

You don't have to actually use the Dungeon Delves book, but basically, run one single night adventure (with 3-5 encounters) for each level. This has the advantage of allowing players to become familiar with characters at lower levels (when they have fewer options) before needing to become tactically proficient with more compicated powers.

You can assume that the adventuring party does have additional, "off-camera" encounters, which contribute to their level advances (or maybe they all have demanding jobs, like border watch, or city guards, which will let them "level up"). That way, the adventures are what they do together, but they all have lives separate from the party.

This also allows you to sub in other players, or other characters, fairly easily. That way, a player can try out a new class or race, or someone can "guest star" without causing continuity errors.