Level Up (A5E) Isle of Dread

[Micah Sweet]

I am planning on running Isle of Dread for my Level Up group next week. Never run it before, but it looks good for what I want. Anyone have any thoughts on the module? Best practices? Ideas on how it will integrate into the Level Up rules?

 

[Reynard]

Every time I have run Isle of Dread I inject it with a lot of weird fantasy. It is a Lost World and so,yeah, dinosaurs and giant animals, but also crashed spaceships, lost warbots, planar portals, "bottomless" shafts to the underdark, etc...

I have run it in multiple editions but not A5E, so I unfortunately don't have any specific advice for that ruleset. I will say that the hexcrawl element of IoD is an important component so lean into that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Every time I have run Isle of Dread I inject it with a lot of weird fantasy. It is a Lost World and so,yeah, dinosaurs and giant animals, but also crashed spaceships, lost warbots, planar portals, "bottomless" shafts to the underdark, etc...

I have run it in multiple editions but not A5E, so I unfortunately don't have any specific advice for that ruleset. I will say that the hexcrawl element of IoD is an important component so lean into that.

I was fully intending to run it as a hexcrawl, using the Level Up exploration rules. Just need to redo the island map in Worldographer.

 

[Distracted DM]

I really need to sit down and read through the journey/exploration rules. I know they're a big piece of the system

Always wanted to run Isle of Dread, I have the Goodman Games conversion; I presume you have the same, or are you just running the original and subbing in the appropriate statblocks etc?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I really need to sit down and read through the journey/exploration rules. I know they're a big piece of the system

Always wanted to run Isle of Dread, I have the Goodman Games conversion; I presume you have the same, or are you just running the original and subbing in the appropriate statblocks etc?

I don't have the Goodman Games version (I'm not made of money). I was going to use the original as a core I can expand from.

 

[Irlo]

There was an update to the Isle of Dread published in Dungeon Magazine years and years ago that, if I recall properly, was useful in expanding and enriching the original module. I'll try to find it to see if my vague memory is at all accurate. I expect that most players will do what they can to avoid combat with dinosaurs -- low reward, high boredom encounters. I'd think of them more as part of the landscape and less as encounters in themselves.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There was an update to the Isle of Dread published in Dungeon Magazine years and years ago that, if I recall properly, was useful in expanding and enriching the original module. I'll try to find it to see if my vague memory is al all accurate.

That would be awesome, thank you

 

[Irlo]

Dungeon 114 (Sept 2004). Back issues are available for sale on E-Bay for about $10. [EDIT: written for 3E.]

The adventure itself centers on a particular village on the island and the underground kopru cult hoping to usher in a demon-lord or something, which might be of use to you if you're looking to flesh out a particular locale. Successful completion of the adventure can provide the party with a safe-haven in the village and lead to further explortations. In addition to the adventure, there's a 10-page overview of the Isle of Dread (including a substantial excerpt from Rory Barbossa's log book, a gazeteer of the island, and some history -- and there are probably some adventure hooks scattered throughout). I can't find my copy of the original Isle of Dread module, so I can't say for sure if this gazeteer contains useful and expanded information or if it's a re-hash of what's included in the original. The magazine comes with a poster map of the island, if that sort of thing interests you.