Obergnom
First Post
Hi,
I recently started a new campaign, originally planned to run from level 6-12, using Shadow&Wrath of the Abyss from Dungeon Magazine #118 & #119 and the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits Adventure.
I scaled the Dungeon Adventures down by 4-5 levels, by using weak giant variants (removing 4 HD roughly lowers their CR by 2, comparing the resulting Frost Giants to MM Hill Giants and the Hill Giants to MM Trolls shows it works out nicely) and changing most of the monsters was easy (Thank you, PCGen. I am suprised, it only took me about 4 hours to change all npcs and creatures in Shadows of the Abyss, that is about 1 hour prep time per session, as I am now intimatly familiar with the adventure and do not have to do additional prep)
My story plan was/is: Starting the Shadows of the Abyss at Chapter 2 (As suggested for those not using the Meta Plot of the Campaign Arc), using the very "Against the Giants" like plot line. (Giants are massing to form an army under new religious leader.)
When the players finish that adventure (having raided a Hill Giant Stronghold) they will find out Drow are behind all this. Enter Wrath of the Abyss chapter 1&2. (Raiding a Drow Hide Out)
This will lead them into EttDP, I will skip the drow at the beginning of that adventure, instead they will find out about Sigil and the multiverse wide drow invasion at the end of "wrath of the abyss".
These were my original plans... simple but effective... but then...
I stumbled across "The Crumbling Halls of the Frost Giant Jarl". A free download at wizards.com. Well, I thought, I could use this in place of the 2 Frost Giants sitting atop a tower in the Demon Quenching Sword Side Quest. Of course, I would change it a bit (using weaker frost giants etc...) but thats not a problem.
I was still hoping I might be able to not actually change the Encounters and Story Line in EttDP, but then... I found yet another adventure... The Heart of Hellfire Mountain... Dungeon Mag #140 ...there it is, the Fire Giants Adventure... I quickly checked if I would be able to scale it down, and yes, going down to level 11 or 12 would be rather easy (from level 20!) ... I really want to use this one, as it would make the whole campaign even more GDQ like... but at the moment I just do not now how.
The important part is the location, a Volcano full of Devil Worshipping Fire Giants and Devils. I would love to use this, maybe even introduce a side trip to Muspelheim. That would be so awesome...
... I just do not know how to...
I am aware that, to do all this it will most certainly be necessary to change at least parts of EttDP, as this looks rather like a campaign that would run up to level 14 or something... where another "problem" enters...
"The Harrowing" (Dungeon Mag #84)... I own this (IMO brilliant) adventure for such a long time, if anyone has a suggestion how to include that one into the campaign (And maybe could point me towards a Shrine of the Kuo-Toa like Adventure that might be included as well)... well, than I would only have to fear that I will never be able to finish that monster of a campaign... and it would be a level 6-16 campaign... which is somewhat my personal comfort zone when playing D&D...
any help or ideas would be great. If anyone is interested, I can sent stat blocks of most rescaled npcs and listings of changed monsters as far as I am finished (All of shadows of the abyss except for the drow at the end)... maybe I will figure out how to make pcgen generate output that can be postet easily, than I could post the stats in this threat.
I recently started a new campaign, originally planned to run from level 6-12, using Shadow&Wrath of the Abyss from Dungeon Magazine #118 & #119 and the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits Adventure.
I scaled the Dungeon Adventures down by 4-5 levels, by using weak giant variants (removing 4 HD roughly lowers their CR by 2, comparing the resulting Frost Giants to MM Hill Giants and the Hill Giants to MM Trolls shows it works out nicely) and changing most of the monsters was easy (Thank you, PCGen. I am suprised, it only took me about 4 hours to change all npcs and creatures in Shadows of the Abyss, that is about 1 hour prep time per session, as I am now intimatly familiar with the adventure and do not have to do additional prep)
My story plan was/is: Starting the Shadows of the Abyss at Chapter 2 (As suggested for those not using the Meta Plot of the Campaign Arc), using the very "Against the Giants" like plot line. (Giants are massing to form an army under new religious leader.)
When the players finish that adventure (having raided a Hill Giant Stronghold) they will find out Drow are behind all this. Enter Wrath of the Abyss chapter 1&2. (Raiding a Drow Hide Out)
This will lead them into EttDP, I will skip the drow at the beginning of that adventure, instead they will find out about Sigil and the multiverse wide drow invasion at the end of "wrath of the abyss".
These were my original plans... simple but effective... but then...
I stumbled across "The Crumbling Halls of the Frost Giant Jarl". A free download at wizards.com. Well, I thought, I could use this in place of the 2 Frost Giants sitting atop a tower in the Demon Quenching Sword Side Quest. Of course, I would change it a bit (using weaker frost giants etc...) but thats not a problem.
I was still hoping I might be able to not actually change the Encounters and Story Line in EttDP, but then... I found yet another adventure... The Heart of Hellfire Mountain... Dungeon Mag #140 ...there it is, the Fire Giants Adventure... I quickly checked if I would be able to scale it down, and yes, going down to level 11 or 12 would be rather easy (from level 20!) ... I really want to use this one, as it would make the whole campaign even more GDQ like... but at the moment I just do not now how.
The important part is the location, a Volcano full of Devil Worshipping Fire Giants and Devils. I would love to use this, maybe even introduce a side trip to Muspelheim. That would be so awesome...
... I just do not know how to... I am aware that, to do all this it will most certainly be necessary to change at least parts of EttDP, as this looks rather like a campaign that would run up to level 14 or something... where another "problem" enters...
"The Harrowing" (Dungeon Mag #84)... I own this (IMO brilliant) adventure for such a long time, if anyone has a suggestion how to include that one into the campaign (And maybe could point me towards a Shrine of the Kuo-Toa like Adventure that might be included as well)... well, than I would only have to fear that I will never be able to finish that monster of a campaign... and it would be a level 6-16 campaign... which is somewhat my personal comfort zone when playing D&D...
any help or ideas would be great. If anyone is interested, I can sent stat blocks of most rescaled npcs and listings of changed monsters as far as I am finished (All of shadows of the abyss except for the drow at the end)... maybe I will figure out how to make pcgen generate output that can be postet easily, than I could post the stats in this threat.
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