Rod of Seven Parts - your experiences?

Mark Hope

Adventurer

• Jan 22, 2007

• #1

Eighth thread of a series on the younger classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.

Rod of Seven Parts

Synopsis: Long lost to mortal ken, the reappearance of the Rod of Seven Parts has awakened the powers of Chaos, and their queen seeks to turn the whole world into a battleground. The PCs undertake the enormous task of seeking out and assembling the pieces of the Rod. Their journey will bring them into direct conflict with the Queen of Chaos, the demonic Miska the Wolf-Spider, and her foul spyder-fiends...

Did you Play or DM this adventure (or both, as some did)? What were your experiences? Did you complete it? What were the highlights for your group?

(With thanks and a tip of the hat to Quasqueton for his ground-breaking series of classic adventure discussions.)

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2008

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Psion

Adventurer

• Jan 22, 2007

• #2

I actually ran this one.

It actually ran pretty well. I did mix it up a bit for campaign setting purposes (there was an ulterior purpose for getting the rod), and I was itching to make use of book 3 of Night Below, which I never got to play because book 2 was such a slog we eventually quit. So I took the dungeon segment and replaced it with Book 3 of night below.

The highlight of the campaign was the giant wedding. My players had a great time with it. They found the roleplaying potential of the whole "monsters are people too" angle of the giant segment captivating and enjoyable.

 

Crothian

First Post

• Jan 22, 2007

• #3

I also ran this but as aseries of side adventures. The group found the first piece of the rod and eventually learned what it was. Buit they were never so interested in it that they wanted to drop everything and find allo the pieces. So, we played for about a year of these random people (others looking for the rod) attacking and harrassing them. They then slowly found all the peices but still only when they had spare time from their other adventures.

 

G

GwydapLlew

First Post

• Jan 22, 2007

• #4

Reading through it, I definitely have to agree with using it piecemeal as side-treks to a greater goal. I had planned on running it in my FR game (in the FR, the Rod is replaced with the scepter of Calim, and is needed to unlock the ancient Djinni) but the player of the Janni PC in my game dropped out.

 

EricNoah

Adventurer

• Jan 22, 2007

• #5

I'm running a paladin in a 3.5 conversion of this adventure right now! We had fun with the giant wedding, too, managed to get through with no combat! I was the bearer of the rod pieces for a while but gave them up when I realized I was going to lose my "good" streak. Our DM is now intermingling some other adventures that deal with a particuar PC's backstory.

 

Last edited: Jan 22, 2007

TerraDave

5ever, or until 2024

• Jan 22, 2007

• #6

Is this the one that was supposed to use the 2nd Ed Options books?

If so, how did that work out?

 

Psion

Adventurer

• Jan 22, 2007

• #7

TerraDave said:

Is this the one that was supposed to use the 2nd Ed Options books?

Click to expand...

No. That would be "Gates of Firestorm Peak".

 

M

molonel

First Post

• Jan 23, 2007

• #8

I played in a converted Rod of Seven Parts campaign that included a few other published modules and a separate storyline apart from the quest.

I loved it. And yes, I also have very good memories of the giant's wedding.

My wild elf barbarian eventually converted to a lawful neutral templar of Hextor after the battle with the two elves in that section.

 

der_kluge

Adventurer

• Jan 23, 2007

• #9

Running this right now as a matter of fact. Well, sort of. I skipped all the introductory modules and placed the first segment in Alaric's Tomb in the _Tomb of Abysthor_ module.

I'm also replacing the second rod module with one of my own design since one of my players played through the regular one several years ago.

After that, I intend to run it as is. They haven't expressed any interest in retrieving the second piece yet. So, they're doing other quests right now.

 

erucsbo

Explorer

• Jan 23, 2007

• #10

Played a CG elven mage when we went through this many years back.
She was the one who had the pieces and gradually got more and more lawful as the rod grew - until she was almost anal-retentive bureaucratic, driving some of the other chaotic characters to distraction.
We ruined the wedding, with my getting a lock of hair from the giants by promising to take the other characters away.
I'm pretty hazy on the details of the game now (was many years back), but do remember that we had fun with the Wind Dukes, and the battle at the end was huge.