Any tips for DMing PHB2 release day adventure?

[Lord Sessadore]

One little avenger tactics thought: avengers get their bonus accuracy when they're adjacent to only one enemy, but it doesn't matter how many of their allies team up on the monster. So having the whole party pile on the avenger's oath target doesn't make the avenger less effective. Some people might not clue into that right away.

 

[Herschel]

The adventure itself looks pretty straight forward in design. Combat will likely be pretty clean to get to. Besides the adventure, read through all the characters and their powers. There's a lot of them.

Also, make photo copies of the character sheets. There are five characters but six can play at a time. I'm going to one store Saturday and another on Sunday as of right now. I'm expecting to have full tables all around.

I hate the racial breakdown of the characters, but cest la vie. I also would have preferred a different defender choice, but teh Paladin makes sense as it also offers healing.

 

[Smeelbo]

Read through all the characters and their powers. There's a lot of them.

Yeah, and now that I am examining them in detail, I am finding mistakes. For example, the Avenger has a Paladin Utility 10, the same one the Paladin has, but no M/C feats. Sigh.

Also, make photo copies of the character sheets.

I'm actually going to add a page to each sheet, summarizing the characters in the group and their key powers, so they can work together better. Then I will take all four pages and have them copied into a four page booklet, like a folder, on nice card stock.

I will post the group summary in the Wizards thread, hopefully along with a DM aid summarizing the important character info, like Perception, Insight and Interrupts/Reactions, which there are a lot of.

There are five characters but six can play at a time.

The characters are very complicated compared to what I've handled before in 4E, and I'm not taking a 6th character. At our local store, I think I will be lucky to have a full table.

Today I will be posting the formalized Skill Challenge in the Wizards thread.

Smeelbo

 

[Herschel]

I'll always take as many players as I can so hopefully nobody gets turned away.

They are very "complicated" characters and this is definitely not aimed at new players. They'll be lost.

 

[Solodan]

After looking over the adventure, these are my thoughts: (NOTE: VERY MINOR SPOILERS)

It is pretty straightforward and standard WOTC easy. However, it has a LOT of HP on the enemies. If your goal is to be done in the time frame of 2-3 hours, you'll need to work with the players to get them to use powers and roll their dice quickly and easily. I would be up front about that "The point of this is to have fun, play with the new stuff, and kick some bad guy butt. It is not an adventure designed to get everyone killed. If you're not sure what to do on your turn, just use one of the encounter powers on the nearest bad guy, and you're probably right"

Along those lines, I'd leave a little extra time up front to let everone read their character sheet TWICE, and ask any questions bout the powers.

The adventure can be done in 2.5 hours with about 15 minutes up front to get everyone going. 45 minutes per combat should be your aim, and if you're under time pressure to get the games done before the time limit (i.e., a game day with 3 hour blocks) feel free to handwave the first two combats if the players look to have everything in hand after 40 minutes or so that you're last combat can be interesting.

The skill challenge is tricky. I'm going to schedule about 15 minutes for it, leaving the first part of it to a turn order thing (using the turn order from the last initiative) and the final part to whoever speaks up first.

I am also thinking about pre-rolling all my attack rolls and damage for the first 5 rounds of each encounter. That should save some time for the players.

 

[Smeelbo]

Just finished formalizing skill challenge, PLEASE comment!

I just finished formalizing the skill challenge from the adventure, and posted it in the Wizard's forum:

Wizards Community - View Single Post - Any tips for DMing PHB2 release day adventure?

It is the very first skill challenge I have ever written, so I would greatly appreciate any constructive comments.

I am working on the player summaries next.

Smeelbo

 

[Kralin Thornberry]

I would suggest that maybe dropping the concealment penalty in the initial combat. That with the trogs aura puts the PCs at a -4, which could cause combat to drag out a bit.

 

[WalterKovacs]

Assuming they went with the Rageblood build for the Barb, expect the Barbarian to tear things apart. He is all about charging, and doing massive damage. So give him opportunities to charge (instead of blocking him). Also, several things happen for the barbarian on crits. However, the Barbarian is also a glass cannon; he is a melee striker who is going to take a lot of punishment because he is going to look like a big, nasty threat.

An interesting quirk about the Invoker is that the invoker has area affects which hurt enemies but help allies (similar to the 1st level Cleric power "Divine Glow"). So, offer an opportunity or two where the enemies and the PCs are in a nice little burst.

The Bard is not much different than a laser cleric, except that he can shift allies a bit more.

My only tip for the paladin is that, regardless of who the paladin Challenges, I'd have that target attack the toher PCs. That way, the Paladin's mark zings them for damage.

As far as the Avenger is concerned, they revolve around picking one guy, dragging him away from the combat, and duking it out with him, mono-e-monster. So I would emphasize that to the player; they are a God-empowered John Wayne.

I can't think of anything else, not having seen the adventure or the classes/builds.

With the bard's ability to move things around, making sure the bard knows how to make the most of this power is very good. Encounrage him to help the Avenger isolate his target, help the Avenger set up good bursts, help set the Barbarian up for charges, and help the Paladin defend. Sometimes players may begrudge being the "healer", and showing off the other things they can do can be helpful. There is a chance one person in the group may be interesting in someone that can help in ways that are more than just healing/buffing.

With the Paladin, I'd perhaps not have a default reaction to his mark by the monsters, but as long as the players get to see both sides of the paladin's mark, and how it can be a problem for the monsters either way, it should be good.

 

[Bryan Reese]

I will be running the PHB2 release Game Day adventure at Adventures in Comics and Games in Carmichael, CA, on Saturday March 21st, 2009.

I have not yet received the event kit, and have not been paying much attention to the preview material for PHB2. I am wondering if anyone has some tips or suggestions for making it a better experience.

I want to sell as many PHB2's as I can, so if you've played any of the PHB2 material, can you recommend anything to emphasize to the players? Specific cool classes or abilities that really stand out, fun-wise? I know about Expertise, and that is the quick sell, but what about the rest of the book?

Also, the adventure is 11th level, low paragon, which I've neither played nor DMed for 4E. So far, all I've played with 4E is early heroic (heroic is my favorite part of the game). Any advice for DMing low paragon as compared to low heroic?

I would appreciate any tips on making the new classes stand out to the players.

Smeelbo

I haven't seen the adventure or book yet, so I am sorry but I cannot be of help. I am only replying because you are one of my local game stores. Tell Avrom Bryan Reese says "Hi", we have known each other for many years. Hope all goes well with your Game Day!

 

[Rechan]

I have the feeling I won't be able to participate in the Gameday, so I'm curious about the adventure itself.