Help with Princes of the Apocalypse

[kalani]

Perhaps I did get a little muddled on the levels (but to be honest) they got the information on the Monastery from the Spire. The party is notoriously bad for not recording leads and then me having to recap a huge chunk all the time and there is no lead from the Spire to the Keep as far as I know. There is however from the Monastery to the Keep.

I know next time I finish running Lost Mine and want to run a module next i will NOT let any characters continue on into the module. Everyone will start from scratch.

Unfortunately, DMs in AL are not allowed to prohibit legal characters. If the characters are still within the correct tier, they can play (even if they are 4th level at the start of the adventure for example). Upon reaching 5th level, you are well within your rights to restrict them from playing until such times as the rest of the party reaches tier 2. Outside of that however, there is little you can do to prevent legal characters from participating.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I dont have that many players 'crossing the streams' ie playing in both my Encounters and Expeditions. Maybe 1-2 of them .

In regards to previous OPs, none of them have played in any previous OP campaigns. No LG, no LC nothing like that. I have but dont know of anyone else locally who has. Gaming was never huge in Australia (out population to player ration is a pale shadow of the American ratio).

Some people dont like it, esp when they thought the BBEG armor from Feathergale spire couldnt actually be kept. I actually had a player leave because of that.. they couldnt wrap their head around that. I explain that my Wed night Encounters sessions are really to introduce new players in, which obviously makes the story suffer. At the moment Im constantly having to juggle between the level 6 (who so nearly died to the UmberHulk) and the level now 2's. Then Ill get a new level 1 hit.

It is a struggle, but Im really pro getting new people into gaming. Im going to have to significantly increase the forces in the Keep (which after the upcoming rescue attempt to retrieve a pc body for a raise) will be next and hopefully not have to do much with Scarlet Moon.

(I was actually secretly hoping.. and I feel so horrible for saying this that there would be a TPK to the Umber Hulk so I could restart in Out of the Abyss with a fresh cast of level 1's). Ive deleted that thought now but at the time, It was so leaning that way.

I have a core of 3 players who are the party historians (even if they are casual players who only recently purchased a PHB between them). They dont really ever remember npc names or locations, but their version of game history when consulting each other is generally pretty accurate.

Yeah sometimes it does feel like a Grind, but I need to keep going to grow the hobby in my Area or it just wont. ( and I dont think Im speaking in a Narcisstic way there... when I was away for 2 weeks... there was no talk of the group getting together to do anything else like Board games or a pickup game.. there was just no game for 2 weeks)

Im actually finding the flipping around in the book the most annoying thing really, that is incrediby minor though

So after the party return to Red Larch to meet with a faction contact to get a scrool/dm item to bring back to life the body of their comrade they left behind to the Orogs at the Monastery , they will likely use the prisoners info to get to the Keep after which Im going to seriously have to bolster forces there to around level 5 ish levels and then hopefully by then I have people to 4's and then Scarlet Moon Hall and then hopefully we should be back on track! ..

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Unfortunately, DMs in AL are not allowed to prohibit legal characters. If the characters are still within the correct tier, they can play (even if they are 4th level at the start of the adventure for example). Upon reaching 5th level, you are well within your rights to restrict them from playing until such times as the rest of the party reaches tier 2. Outside of that however, there is little you can do to prevent legal characters from participating.

I think if it had come to that I probably would have just stopped running Encounters and let it flounder which I dont really want to do being the LC of the area. Its just provided far too many headaches balancing, then rebalancing, then quickly changing things to keep up with the in and out of players and characters. I much prefer Expeditions .. much much

 

[Angry_Steak]

I don't envy you. I've been my shop's GM for a little over a year now and just recently got a backup/2nd for overflow.

My solution was to explain to everyone that my priority will always be introducing new players to the game, and as such, it would be unlikely that Tier 2 play would ever happen. I'm fortunate that my core shares this vision and enjoys remaking characters each season.

That said, I'd second the suggestion of using Expeditions as filler. It would give higher level players a chance at getting a couple 2-3s for flexibility and give that small jump in survival for the newer folks.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Angry: Its not all doom and gloom. THere is a lot of laughter in the game when the Orogs burst into the room while the party was long resting and then in the excitement the Sorcerer screamed at the Barbarian to go pull the lever (they were going to 'trap' the Orogs and Ogres downstairs (yeah they havnt even used the stairs yet). He raced off and then suddenly everyone remembered the Barbarian was stold cold stupid and would pull the lever with some of them still down there. A lot of laughter right there.

Generally the group decides to rest in some strange places.

(Resting in the spire was easy enough, they had cleaned it out, but so far Ive had the party rest just outside the Monastery (like 50ft fron the Entrance) and now in the Umber Hulk room. As Ive stated before some are very new gamers (even if they are hitting level 6s and 5s now. Some show signs of gaming awakening yelling out dont split the party. The Paladin keeps buying horses and riding them into danger and then the horse dying. I think its like 4 horses to now.

Angry: I basically have enough players for a full table of 7, but not enough for a second table of anything. Sometimes I have 6 or 5. Plus still no other dm for a second wed game. I dont do signups (bar the fill your name on the signin sheet when you come in) and take the first 7 signed in. Its led to all the new 1's my game has seen recently. Again none of the players there want to run .. anything whilst I am not available. Ill be at PAX Aus soon (to run some Expeditions I might add!) and guess whats happening when Im not there ? Nothing!. Ive mentioned several times Ill help out with resources to run something but no interest.

So far Ive had the Group go to red Larch ---> Tomb of Moving Stones---> Empty Graves ---> Feathergale spire---> Sighing Valley ---> Sacred Stone Monastery (in progress).

Again this was because I started with 5's and a 3 and there was no need to run the low level stuff because of cakewalk. So I didnt. Now I kinda need to for some of the new players but I cant really go back. Next stop should be Riverguard Keep and then Scarlet Moon... Im having to basically completely rebalance Riverguard Keep (You would be shocked to see how many Extra reavers and Bandits and Fathomers Ive had to put in) and I think I have pushed it to a challenge for a level 4 average . (the mix last week was 6,5,5,3,3,3,1). ALthough the 1 just became a 2.