12 part Adventure Path good for new DM/players?

[Mitchbones]

I am going to subscribing to Dungeon, and I heard they are doing an adventure path A Savage Tide. Would this put less strain on me than a homebrew? Me and my players have yet to actually play D&D, so I figured this would be awsome for us. Just wondering the opinons of those with more experince than me.

Edit: I have yet to get my subscription (waiting on getting paid back) Did you guys like Age of Worms?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It depends. The Age of Worms was a pretty advanced AP, and the first dungeon would likely be tough on new players without the paranoia experienced players have.

I'd grab Dungeon Mastering for Dummies (a good book, despite the possibly insulting name) and run the group through the two included intro adventures there, just to get your feet wet.

If that goes well, start them on the Savage Tide. The extra little XP bump wouldn't hurt, either.

 

[Crothian]

It will be less strain in that you won';t need to preapre as much. I would be tempted to let the players advance a little faster in the first few ones to make them a few levels higher then it is for. Powerful characters will help offset the inexperience of the players and make TPKs a bit more rare.

 

[Simplicity]

While the various adventure paths are fairly good (1 is much better than 2, in my opinion), I don't think they're good starting points for a new DM or a new group. At all.

There's way too much material for a new DM to absorb in both of them, and they're both very challenging for inexperienced parties.

 

[Mitchbones]

I actually already have the DMing for Dummies book, pretty helpful IMO. I found it funny that the level 1 adventure was killing rats in a bar .

Thanks for the input guys, I think I'll just keep the issues then run it at a later time when my players are more experinced.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

If you do decide to run an adventure path, I would recommend a few warm-up sessions first. Give the new players a chance to master the basics in an environment where continuity and such isn't important. I think they'd appreciate the continuity and plot of an AP more if they aren't re-rolling characters every session while they learn the ropes, or the DM isn't retconning stuff to keep them alive.

 

[TheNovaLord]

I have subscribed to dungeon very recently purely for this adventure path in the savage tides. Never run a 1-20 adventure before or subscribed or bought many dungeon mags. I also bought back copies to 130 just to see.

played the one in the depot with the gobbos last week, seemed to go well.

Do you really get from 1st level to 20th in just 12 episodes with these things or are you supposed to do fillers in between?

as ST is set on isle of dread do i finally get to use my fiendish TRex mini at some point (he recalls the original cover of the BD&D module)

JohnD

 

[Steel_Wind]

The number of encounters and the EL level in each of the AP adventures is such that, yes, it really will take a party of 4 to 21st level or so.

If you add party members and increase threat level accordingly, yes, it really does go to 20+ without adding any more to the campaign.

This isn't all that surprising really. Here's why:

After taking the 12 installments in the Age of Worms, integrating in all of the applicable Online Supplements, all of the Wormfood articles and the three applicable "Ecology" articles and the swamp themed Bizarre of the Bazzar that appeared in Dragon over the course of the AoW AP - my page count is ... drumroll.... 662 pages.

There is a LOT of meat in the Age of Worms AP.

 

[James Jacobs]

And to tell the truth... there's a fairly good chance that Savage Tide is going to end up being even longer than Age of Worms. There's certainly enough material in this 12-part adventure to take characters from 1st level up to 20th (or even 21st). Not all of these adventures will be set on the Isle of Dread (in fact, only 3 of the 12 are set totally on the Isle), but you will indeed have plenty of opportunities to use your fiendish tyrannosaur mini before the campaign is over.

 

[MerricB]

I think my group has about 6 Fiendish T-Rexes, James.

Will we get to use all of them?

Cheers!