billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
For AP-type play, I've mostly run these, only been a player in a few
1e
A-series - lots of fun, I ran 3 of the 4 adventures and got to play in the 4th (I owned only the first 3 modules, the other DM owned the 4th). Finished the mini-campaign.
GDQ series - one of my first experiences DMing for a different group of players older than myself (I was a freshman in high school), the giant modules were particularly fun and I lacked the experience to really make the really flexible D series shine as interestingly as they could. Finished the mini-campaign.
Temple of Elemental Evil - ran this for a while in college with a fairly large group of players, we got through the moat house and part of the temple, but it did have a tendency to bog down. While the moat house (T1) is a good module, the rest of it needed a LOT of editing. The 5e adaptation of the ideas (Princes of the Apocalypse) is much better, in my opinion. Did not finish the campaign.
Call of Cthulhu
Masks of Nyarlathotep - experienced this as a player in college. We played weekly with a fairly large group and completed it in the spring term of 1989. Most of us went through 2 characters because it does tend to eat you up. I did manage to successfully retire one mid-point due to sanity fragility rather than complete loss of sanity or death. He just didn't have another confrontation in him. Ran this as a Keeper in 1998 - ended in a TPK due to a dynamite incident in the Mountain of the Black Winds (except for the lawyer who vowed to lodge a class-action lawsuit against the dynamite manufacturer). This ended up being OK because my daughter was born less than a week later and that ended up taking up a lot of my time.
3e
A-series - converted to 3e, ran all 4 and they worked really well with the 3e rule system except for the faster advancement. I really had to slow advancement down to keep the PCs in the level range of the module. Ability damage, particular spell-casting ability, was a great fit for modeling the limitations in the 4th installment. Finished the mini-campaign
G series - ran 2/3 of these converted to 3e - with PCs a bit higher level than the 1e recommendations and that was perfect. The only thing stopping us from running the rest was a shift to another game for a while and we never got back to it
Shackled City - ran with 3 players, initially, each with 2 PCs, then added a 4th player midway. Decided to omit the last chapter but the overall campaign was excellent.
d20 Call of Cthulhu
Masks of Nyarthotep - started this one with a d20 CoC conversion, but the group was going through a transition (2 players had recently moved away) and they were itching more to do the Shackled City campaign (noted above) so we didn't get too far.
PF1
Council of Thieves - had a reasonable amount of fun with this one, one of Paizo's shorter APs. Developed a local neighborhood for the PCs since they'd be adventuring in town for a lot of the game - each was involved in local businesses and so on. Really added to the atmosphere and fleshed out the environment. Finished the campaign.
Skull and Shackles - finally got to play in a Paizo AP so they let me be the captain of our piratical venture. That worked out pretty well since I was the only evil PC in the group and thus was called upon to make the more brutal decisions. Finished the campaign.
Wrath of the Righteous - ran this one and came to the conclusion I wasn't a fan of the mythic rules. Lots of spinning plates for that one that were hard to manage as a DM so I ruled out doing any more mythic as DM from that point. The players had a pretty good time though. Finished the campaign.
Curse of the Crimson Throne - DMing this one as one of my favorite of the Paizo APs, using the PF1 hardcover. Ended prematurely in Chapter 4 by the pandemic. Not entirely sure we'll get back to it when we're all immunized and can play in person again, might just start a new campaign with something else.
Star Wars Saga Edition
Dawn of Defiance - campaign ran over 4 (or is it 5?) summers so the next generation of players (our kids) could participate - they weren't allowed to play Jedi due to complexity and their ages, but I got to play one. The group was VERY large at 11 players at its furthest expanse, 9 regularly + the GM, and chaotic with at least 2 of the kids having ADHD. We tended to focus less on the role play and more on the fights. Finished the campaign.
5e
Age of Worms - currently running 5e conversion of this one via Google Meet and Roll20. Large group of players because it inherited the SWSE players. We're managing though. Just finished Chapter 4 so now they're on to the Champion's Belt competition. Might considering omitting or at least shortening a chapter or two as we move on. I think I'll be the last adult to get their first immunization so we may be able to meet face to face in about 7 more weeks, fully immunized against the pandemic.
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands/Princes of the Apocalypse - currently running this for a different group of relative newbs to 5e, using RttKotB as a lead in for the WotC AP. They're about 2/5 of their way through the Caves of Chaos. Using Discord and Roll20. This is actually the first game I've run in which I have a player that I don't know face-to-face - she's a friend/coworker of one of the other players so I agreed to let her in as a player. She's fitting in well because, I think, most of the players know her - it's just me and maybe one other player who don't.
You may have noticed that the A-series, the GDQ series, and Masks of Nyarlathotep come up multiple times. There's a good reason for this - they play very well and are relatively easy to work with as a GM. The GDQ series is less detailed in many ways as a mini-campaign, but is still threads a compelling story that draws players in. And Masks, well, that's just a fantastically written and designed campaign.
I've also run three different incarnations of the Ravenloft adventure - all of which went really well (1e, 2e, 3e) and it's another good example of an adventure to run in virtually any edition if well-adapted. It's just not an AP pre-5e, so I didn't include it in my main write up above.
1e
A-series - lots of fun, I ran 3 of the 4 adventures and got to play in the 4th (I owned only the first 3 modules, the other DM owned the 4th). Finished the mini-campaign.
GDQ series - one of my first experiences DMing for a different group of players older than myself (I was a freshman in high school), the giant modules were particularly fun and I lacked the experience to really make the really flexible D series shine as interestingly as they could. Finished the mini-campaign.
Temple of Elemental Evil - ran this for a while in college with a fairly large group of players, we got through the moat house and part of the temple, but it did have a tendency to bog down. While the moat house (T1) is a good module, the rest of it needed a LOT of editing. The 5e adaptation of the ideas (Princes of the Apocalypse) is much better, in my opinion. Did not finish the campaign.
Call of Cthulhu
Masks of Nyarlathotep - experienced this as a player in college. We played weekly with a fairly large group and completed it in the spring term of 1989. Most of us went through 2 characters because it does tend to eat you up. I did manage to successfully retire one mid-point due to sanity fragility rather than complete loss of sanity or death. He just didn't have another confrontation in him. Ran this as a Keeper in 1998 - ended in a TPK due to a dynamite incident in the Mountain of the Black Winds (except for the lawyer who vowed to lodge a class-action lawsuit against the dynamite manufacturer). This ended up being OK because my daughter was born less than a week later and that ended up taking up a lot of my time.
3e
A-series - converted to 3e, ran all 4 and they worked really well with the 3e rule system except for the faster advancement. I really had to slow advancement down to keep the PCs in the level range of the module. Ability damage, particular spell-casting ability, was a great fit for modeling the limitations in the 4th installment. Finished the mini-campaign
G series - ran 2/3 of these converted to 3e - with PCs a bit higher level than the 1e recommendations and that was perfect. The only thing stopping us from running the rest was a shift to another game for a while and we never got back to it
Shackled City - ran with 3 players, initially, each with 2 PCs, then added a 4th player midway. Decided to omit the last chapter but the overall campaign was excellent.
d20 Call of Cthulhu
Masks of Nyarthotep - started this one with a d20 CoC conversion, but the group was going through a transition (2 players had recently moved away) and they were itching more to do the Shackled City campaign (noted above) so we didn't get too far.
PF1
Council of Thieves - had a reasonable amount of fun with this one, one of Paizo's shorter APs. Developed a local neighborhood for the PCs since they'd be adventuring in town for a lot of the game - each was involved in local businesses and so on. Really added to the atmosphere and fleshed out the environment. Finished the campaign.
Skull and Shackles - finally got to play in a Paizo AP so they let me be the captain of our piratical venture. That worked out pretty well since I was the only evil PC in the group and thus was called upon to make the more brutal decisions. Finished the campaign.
Wrath of the Righteous - ran this one and came to the conclusion I wasn't a fan of the mythic rules. Lots of spinning plates for that one that were hard to manage as a DM so I ruled out doing any more mythic as DM from that point. The players had a pretty good time though. Finished the campaign.
Curse of the Crimson Throne - DMing this one as one of my favorite of the Paizo APs, using the PF1 hardcover. Ended prematurely in Chapter 4 by the pandemic. Not entirely sure we'll get back to it when we're all immunized and can play in person again, might just start a new campaign with something else.
Star Wars Saga Edition
Dawn of Defiance - campaign ran over 4 (or is it 5?) summers so the next generation of players (our kids) could participate - they weren't allowed to play Jedi due to complexity and their ages, but I got to play one. The group was VERY large at 11 players at its furthest expanse, 9 regularly + the GM, and chaotic with at least 2 of the kids having ADHD. We tended to focus less on the role play and more on the fights. Finished the campaign.
5e
Age of Worms - currently running 5e conversion of this one via Google Meet and Roll20. Large group of players because it inherited the SWSE players. We're managing though. Just finished Chapter 4 so now they're on to the Champion's Belt competition. Might considering omitting or at least shortening a chapter or two as we move on. I think I'll be the last adult to get their first immunization so we may be able to meet face to face in about 7 more weeks, fully immunized against the pandemic.
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands/Princes of the Apocalypse - currently running this for a different group of relative newbs to 5e, using RttKotB as a lead in for the WotC AP. They're about 2/5 of their way through the Caves of Chaos. Using Discord and Roll20. This is actually the first game I've run in which I have a player that I don't know face-to-face - she's a friend/coworker of one of the other players so I agreed to let her in as a player. She's fitting in well because, I think, most of the players know her - it's just me and maybe one other player who don't.
You may have noticed that the A-series, the GDQ series, and Masks of Nyarlathotep come up multiple times. There's a good reason for this - they play very well and are relatively easy to work with as a GM. The GDQ series is less detailed in many ways as a mini-campaign, but is still threads a compelling story that draws players in. And Masks, well, that's just a fantastically written and designed campaign.
I've also run three different incarnations of the Ravenloft adventure - all of which went really well (1e, 2e, 3e) and it's another good example of an adventure to run in virtually any edition if well-adapted. It's just not an AP pre-5e, so I didn't include it in my main write up above.
