Any Experiences with Trouble at Durbenford?

[Numion]

Hi!

I've been getting more anxious to DM again now that I've been a player for a while. I've been buying Dungeon magazines, looking for an outline for a campaign of connected, pre-made adventures. I'm too busy to completely make a campaign from scratch, so I'll use mostly pre-made, with probably some single adventures made by myself.

Anyway, I started to look at other published adventures, and found out that Necromancer games has a few out. Large ones too. Trouble at Durbenford is a 200+ pages hardcover adventure, and I found a couple of favorable reviews, so I bought it. I've been wanting for a big HC adventure / mini-campaign for while (harkens back to my liking of similar things for WHFRP). It looks very good, even though I've had little time to properly read to it through. It's a whole campaign area with different locales, sub-plots and such, you know, makings of a grand adventure.

I'll probably use this in the future - I may need other adventures to get the PCs to proper level. Vault of Larin Karr (also by necros) was for the proper levels, IIRC. Maybe I'll check that one out.

The reviews I found were not playtest reviews though, so I'm asking you guys if anyone has played or DMed this? How did it go?

 

[Morpheus]

If you like TaD, you'll love The Lost City of Barakus. The only problem I have with LCoB is the fact that the campaign is designed with giving out 1/2 experience awards to slow advancement. Otherwise, it has everything you mentioned that you wanted and more (some good stuff on the Necro boards).

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Here's what I am doing.

1st through 5th/6th-- The Lost City of Barakus.

I can't recommend this one enough. If you are starting your campaign at 1st level, get this one..

Like TaD, it's a big hardcover. It has a fully developed town/home base, a wilderness, and a huge dungeon. There are side quests galore and plenty to do-- though my own group has pretty much just stuck to the dungeon.

This is a VERY deadly module. There are lots of places where, if the PCs don't play smart, they're going to die. Probably even TPK. (I like this, for what it's worth, and it's a common element to Necromancer Games' modules).

If you want an idea of what it's like in play, you can find snippets in pogre's Zandyrium Story Hour.

5th through 8th/9th-- The Vault of Larin Karr

Another great adventure with lots of plot hooks, a single setting (though, like, three small towns), plus the wilderness, plus the Underdark, plus the legendary Vault itself.

My players are still 4th level, however, stuck in LCoB... so no play notes for you. If I had one complaint about VoLK so far, it's that it's filthy with dragons. (At least two.)

There's a teaser in LCoB where the party sees a dragon flying north overhead-- in my campaign, it will be the selfsame dragon from VoLK moving in.

8th through 14th/15th-- Trouble at Durbenford

I own this, as part of this grand campaign I'm trying to link together, but have not read very far into it so far. I will say this: I'm not really into the whole "drug ring" aspect of the adventure. Just not what I'm looking for in heroic fantasy, really. If I can find a way to remove the drug angle from this adventure entirely, I will.

The only problem I have with LCoB is the fact that the campaign is designed with giving out 1/2 experience awards to slow advancement. Otherwise, it has everything you mentioned that you wanted and more (some good stuff on the Necro boards).

I use a spreadsheet to track experience, and I've just started toying with an extra step in my XP calculations. All experience points awarded are divided by (4 / # sessions played at that character level). So when I sit down to play, if it's the first time the PCs have played since they level up, the divisor is (4/1), meaning they earn 1/4 XP for that evening.

The next time we sit down to play, the divisor is (4/2), meaning they earn 1/2 XP.

The next time we play, (4/3), meaning they earn 3/4 XP.

The next time we play, they earn (4/4), or full XP. (I cap the progression here.)

These actual calculations are unknown to the players (as I'm sure they'd find a way to push off the big battles to Session 4 every time!) but ensures they level up at a rate commensurate with their little newbie hearts' desires.

Wulf

 

[Morpheus]

This is a VERY deadly module. There are lots of places where, if the PCs don't play smart, they're going to die. Probably even TPK. (I like this, for what it's worth, and it's a common element to Necromancer Games' modules).

You aren't kidding! I ran The Fane of the Witch King and had 2 TPKs in consecutive sessions. I don't feel too bad though-I had the players roll up 2 PCs for the adventure at the beginning as I knew it to be deadly.

I use a spreadsheet to track experience, and I've just started toying with an extra step in my XP calculations. All experience points awarded are divided by (4 / # sessions played at that character level). So when I sit down to play, if it's the first time the PCs have played since they level up, the divisor is (4/1), meaning they earn 1/4 XP for that evening.

The next time we sit down to play, the divisor is (4/2), meaning they earn 1/2 XP.

The next time we play, (4/3), meaning they earn 3/4 XP.

The next time we play, they earn (4/4), or full XP. (I cap the progression here.)

These actual calculations are unknown to the players (as I'm sure they'd find a way to push off the big battles to Session 4 every time!) but ensures they level up at a rate commensurate with their little newbie hearts' desires.

Wulf

Very creative solution that would seem to work for LCoB. Do you plan on using for the rest of the adventures too?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Very creative solution that would seem to work for LCoB. Do you plan on using for the rest of the adventures too?

Probably so, yes.

 

[Numion]

Here's what I am doing.

1st through 5th/6th-- The Lost City of Barakus.

I can't recommend this one enough. If you are starting your campaign at 1st level, get this one..

Like TaD, it's a big hardcover. It has a fully developed town/home base, a wilderness, and a huge dungeon. There are side quests galore and plenty to do-- though my own group has pretty much just stuck to the dungeon.

This is a VERY deadly module. There are lots of places where, if the PCs don't play smart, they're going to die. Probably even TPK. (I like this, for what it's worth, and it's a common element to Necromancer Games' modules).

Hmm .. Lost City has been on my radar for a while, and only thing I didn't like was the experience dividing thing. Lower levels can be boring, and our group likes the fast advancement. My group is also pretty 'gamist' vs. roleplaying so high lethality is not a problem.

Now that you've mentioned it, I'll probably do a similar campaign. I already noticed Vault of Larinn Karr, so maybe I'll make it a Necromancer Games campaign. 14 levels of carefree gaming! Maybe continue to Demon Gods Fane and Dungeon #100 Lich Queens Beloved. Yep, maybe that'll be the longterm campaign.

Thanks for the help, guys!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Hmm .. Lost City has been on my radar for a while, and only thing I didn't like was the experience dividing thing. Lower levels can be boring, and our group likes the fast advancement. My group is also pretty 'gamist' vs. roleplaying so high lethality is not a problem.

I didn't start dividing experience until they all hit 4th level.

I think if they had done more of the side quests, it would be more of a problem. But for right now, the XP earned in the dungeon has been needed in the dungeon. They just hit 4th level, see, and their last encounter was an EL5 huge spider (killed it), an EL6 Hydra (they have no hope of killing, ran away), and an EL8 aranea sorceress (she got away).

So basically, they are at the point where they damn well better hit some side quests or they're outmatched if they try to go any further into the dungeon. Things they haven't done yet?

1) captured the Green Tree Bandits

2) broken up the slave ring in town

3) gone into the sewers (wererats...)

4) found out the secret of the Pulanti family (they've never even heard of them...)

5) encountered the evil adventuring group

6) found Fenton Barmey (this one has been hounding them since day 1)

7) found any of the wilderness encounters other than the secret garden and the flying monkeys. (That's two out of about twelve wilderness locations-- and they only found these two because they were near the river and the road.)

And that's just off the top of my head.

So I would say-- definitely don't let "the XP thing" scare you off LCoB. You'll see.


Wulf