D&D (2024) Looking for VTT (Foundry or Roll20) campaigns for my next (5e) campaign

[TheSword]

Sorry for the thread necro but can I ask what you settled on in the end… and also how far did you get into Rappan Athuk?

 

[MNblockhead]

I'm in a similar situation - I've just finished up a 5e campaign of close to 3 years, all in Foundry, but in my case in a homebrew setting with bits and pieces grafted in from all over the place... and yeah, I'm tired of all the work involved even though I want to start a new campaign.

Instead of going the route of trying to import/adapt something from DDB, though, I'm seriously considering a switch to Pathfinder 2e. By most accounts the PF2e system for Foundry is amazing, and now that it has official support I'll be able to just buy an adventure path and drop it in with all the maps pre-made, pre-lighted, actors created, etc. I'm not overly enthused about either of the two adventures currently available (an undead-heavy horror-ish series and a megadungeon, which from your post above it seems you've already done), so I'm watching to see what comes next... but I might just go for the Abomination Vaults and give it a try.

Yeah, I've not spent a lot of time playing around with the PF2e system in Foundry, but from what I've seen so far they've done a great job. As a 5e DM running games in Foundry, I'm very envious.

 

[MNblockhead]

Sorry for the thread necro but can I ask what you settled on in the end… and also how far did you get into Rappan Athuk?

Still chugging along with Rappan Athuk. I'm not sure whether you have run, or plan to run RA as a DM. If you may be a player in a RA campaign, I don't want to give spoilers.

But we have gotten very far into RA. Currently we are nearly 24 hours of game play into what is basically a side quest to the party's main goal. After this, if the party sticks to their main goal, and scheduling issues don't cause us to skip any sessions, we could wrap things up by the end of the summer. If you want to know more, I can post further details with spoiler threads. But, lets put it this way, there are 56 levels and over 100 maps, nearly all of which I've prepped in Foundry (started the campaign in person using RealmWorks and a horizontal display with minis, so there are some maps I didn't redo in Foundry). The majority of them have been explored by the party.

We haven't decided on what the next system or adventure will be. Personally, I'm leaning towards DCC and running a DCC Dying Earth campaign. I like how the Kickstarter came with enough adventure material to run an entire campaign, but that each adventure is a stand-alone module. Getting away from an adventure path or single location would be a nice break. A couple of the players are looking at the rules. I was worried that the way magic works would turn off at least one player, because he doesn't like how 5e has "nerfed" magic. But he stated in our last session that he wouldn't mind more dangerous and unpredictable, or weaker, magic if he knows that's how it is going in. With 5e, he compares it to earlier editions of the game, where he liked its treatment of magic better, which makes him disappointed with 5e's magic.

From the DM's side of the screen, I find the DCC system in Foundry to be basic, but workable. My main concern--and this could be a deal breaker--is that there is currently no support for the newer mechanics introduced with the Dying Earth setting. It looks like most of the customization will just require some random-table automatons, which I'm willing to do. But I need to dig into the rules deeper. If I have to get into more involved customization of character sheets or macro creation, then I think I would rather find another system. Hopefully Goodman Games or the community will update the DCC system to support the new Dying Earth mechanics over the next few months.

I still really like 5e, but I'm finding I like it for lower-level play. Also, I'm a bit tired of the wonkiness of getting 5e working smoothly in Foundry.

I've also become more willing to take a deeper look into Pathfinder 2e, which has good Foundry support. The main hurdle was not wanting to buy into a whole new "D&D" system. But there was a Bundle of Holding deal a while back that was such a good deal, that I ended up buying the core rule books and bunch of other PF2e stuff in PDF. So, I've jumped over that hurdle. Need to discuss with my players. At least one is a big PF1e fan and not such a fan of 2e. But I don't know if that is him just not wanting to DM PF2e but perhaps willing to play PF2e.

Rappan Athuk is such a beast of a dungeon, however, that by the time we finally wrap it up--a lot of things can change. Already, since I've posted this message, Kobald Press released Valiant, Matt Coleville announced he's working on a new game system, as has Critical Role. Also, WotC may have their VTT open for early release/playtesting.

I'll re-necro this thread after my current campaign has wrapped up and my group has decided on what the next one will be.

 

[TheSword]

Still chugging along with Rappan Athuk. I'm not sure whether you have run, or plan to run RA as a DM. If you may be a player in a RA campaign, I don't want to give spoilers.

But we have gotten very far into RA. Currently we are nearly 24 hours of game play into what is basically a side quest to the party's main goal. After this, if the party sticks to their main goal, and scheduling issues don't cause us to skip any sessions, we could wrap things up by the end of the summer. If you want to know more, I can post further details with spoiler threads. But, lets put it this way, there are 56 levels and over 100 maps, nearly all of which I've prepped in Foundry (started the campaign in person using RealmWorks and a horizontal display with minis, so there are some maps I didn't redo in Foundry). The majority of them have been explored by the party.

We haven't decided on what the next system or adventure will be. Personally, I'm leaning towards DCC and running a DCC Dying Earth campaign. I like how the Kickstarter came with enough adventure material to run an entire campaign, but that each adventure is a stand-alone module. Getting away from an adventure path or single location would be a nice break. A couple of the players are looking at the rules. I was worried that the way magic works would turn off at least one player, because he doesn't like how 5e has "nerfed" magic. But he stated in our last session that he wouldn't mind more dangerous and unpredictable, or weaker, magic if he knows that's how it is going in. With 5e, he compares it to earlier editions of the game, where he liked its treatment of magic better, which makes him disappointed with 5e's magic.

From the DM's side of the screen, I find the DCC system in Foundry to be basic, but workable. My main concern--and this could be a deal breaker--is that there is currently no support for the newer mechanics introduced with the Dying Earth setting. It looks like most of the customization will just require some random-table automatons, which I'm willing to do. But I need to dig into the rules deeper. If I have to get into more involved customization of character sheets or macro creation, then I think I would rather find another system. Hopefully Goodman Games or the community will update the DCC system to support the new Dying Earth mechanics over the next few months.

I still really like 5e, but I'm finding I like it for lower-level play. Also, I'm a bit tired of the wonkiness of getting 5e working smoothly in Foundry.

I've also become more willing to take a deeper look into Pathfinder 2e, which has good Foundry support. The main hurdle was not wanting to buy into a whole new "D&D" system. But there was a Bundle of Holding deal a while back that was such a good deal, that I ended up buying the core rule books and bunch of other PF2e stuff in PDF. So, I've jumped over that hurdle. Need to discuss with my players. At least one is a big PF1e fan and not such a fan of 2e. But I don't know if that is him just not wanting to DM PF2e but perhaps willing to play PF2e.

Rappan Athuk is such a beast of a dungeon, however, that by the time we finally wrap it up--a lot of things can change. Already, since I've posted this message, Kobald Press released Valiant, Matt Coleville announced he's working on a new game system, as has Critical Role. Also, WotC may have their VTT open for early release/playtesting.

I'll re-necro this thread after my current campaign has wrapped up and my group has decided on what the next one will be.

Awesome man. Love the update. @GuyBoy DM’d Rappan Athuk for our group and I was a player. An invisible goblin used a scroll of Slay living on me and I died. C’est la vie Rappan Athuk.

Loved it. Want to go back!

 

[MNblockhead]

Loved it. Want to go back!

Time to once again go down the well!

 

[GuyBoy]

Time to once again go down the well!

“Don’t go down the well!”
I absolutely LOVE Rappan Athuk!

 

[MNblockhead]

“Don’t go down the well!”
I absolutely LOVE Rappan Athuk!

Would love to hear your thoughts on running RA and any stories and lessons learned you feel like sharing. I've started a separate thread, with a spoiler warning, for this and will be posting my thoughts and experiences running RA and on deadly megadungeons in general:

D&D General - Thoughts on running Rappan Athuk (and deadly megadungeons in general) [SPOILERS]

I've been running Rappan Athuk for 4 years and 4 months. I should wrap it up by the end of the summer. I'm running the 5e version and most of the characters are at level 17 and will likely level to 18 by the end of the next session. Rappan Athuk, and megadungeons in general, are not everyone's...

www.enworld.org

 

[GuyBoy]

Would love to hear your thoughts on running RA and any stories and lessons learned you feel like sharing. I've started a separate thread, with a spoiler warning, for this and will be posting my thoughts and experiences running RA and on deadly megadungeons in general:

D&D General - Thoughts on running Rappan Athuk (and deadly megadungeons in general) [SPOILERS]

I've been running Rappan Athuk for 4 years and 4 months. I should wrap it up by the end of the summer. I'm running the 5e version and most of the characters are at level 17 and will likely level to 18 by the end of the next session. Rappan Athuk, and megadungeons in general, are not everyone's...

www.enworld.org

I ran it back in 3.5 days and loved it. I've never played it as a player but that's definitely on my bucket list for one day.
My key aims were to build a narrative around the dungeon so the players had buy-in beyond just treasure and adventure. To achieve this I transplanted the Keep on the Borderlands as a base, fleshed out the characters therein, and linked to the dungeon; for example, the paladin player's backstory was that he was the childhood sweetheart of the castellan's daughter but he had gone away for some years to fight the good fight elsewhere and they had parted. Unbeknown to him, the real castellan's daughter had been replaced by a succubus linked to the Temple of Orcus within RA, and was now a prisoner. The gradual unmasking of this plot played a key role in the campaign.
I also had a group of bandits who would lurk near the entrance to "shake down" the exhausted adventurers when they exited the dungeon. They were, of course, tipped off by an informant within the keep.
An NPC bard in the Keep was the survivor of a party that had fallen in RA; she had escaped by fleeing and was struggling to come to terms with her guilt.

Things like this made the campaign work better overall, and I'm lucky enough to have a group of players who enjoy this kind of game.
Good luck with your game, which sounds superb.

 

[MNblockhead]

I ran it back in 3.5 days and loved it. I've never played it as a player but that's definitely on my bucket list for one day.
My key aims were to build a narrative around the dungeon so the players had buy-in beyond just treasure and adventure. To achieve this I transplanted the Keep on the Borderlands as a base, fleshed out the characters therein, and linked to the dungeon; for example, the paladin player's backstory was that he was the childhood sweetheart of the castellan's daughter but he had gone away for some years to fight the good fight elsewhere and they had parted. Unbeknown to him, the real castellan's daughter had been replaced by a succubus linked to the Temple of Orcus within RA, and was now a prisoner. The gradual unmasking of this plot played a key role in the campaign.
I also had a group of bandits who would lurk near the entrance to "shake down" the exhausted adventurers when they exited the dungeon. They were, of course, tipped off by an informant within the keep.
An NPC bard in the Keep was the survivor of a party that had fallen in RA; she had escaped by fleeing and was struggling to come to terms with her guilt.

Things like this made the campaign work better overall, and I'm lucky enough to have a group of players who enjoy this kind of game.
Good luck with your game, which sounds superb.

Pairing it with the Keep on the Borderlands is a great idea. Did you have it completely replace the Caves of Chaos?

In my 5e campaign of RA, the

Spoiler

ruins of Castle Calaelen and Zelkor's Ferry

fill a similar role, but those may have been added to later versions of the adventure.

 

[GuyBoy]

Pairing it with the Keep on the Borderlands is a great idea. Did you have it completely replace the Caves of Chaos?

In my 5e campaign of RA, the

Spoiler

ruins of Castle Calaelen and Zelkor's Ferry

fill a similar role, but those may have been added to later versions of the adventure.

Yes, I replaced the Caves of Chaos with RA.
The Keep just made an effective home base, a storyline source and a “home to save” from the evil leaking out of RA.
I think Zelkor’s Ferry is from the later 5e version.

RA, for me, is the gold standard of mega-dungeons, though I’m currently running the Scarlet Citadel (Kobold Press) which is excellent and has its own home village, Redtower, with lots of hooks and stories.