Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Campaign in a box, literally. Levels 1-20: http://mongoosepublishing.com/home/...s=&PHPSESSID=4d57847ed02bf5b3361010f994056693
Campaign in a Box
- Thread starter Eltern
- Start date
I'm sad to see that Mongoose is putting out almost exactly what I want...given that I hate Mongoose 
I've only seen one or two of their products, but they were horrible. That, and I've not heard much of anything about them other than "poor editing" and "overpowered." However, I did look at those products, and they do seem interesting. Not a fan of the drow by any means, though, so it'll take some thought.
As for Shackled City: Every post I've seen about it makes it out to be written by God himself on leaves of gold. I like urban campaigns, and it seems like there's a lot of plot. But what else can people tell me about it? -Why- is it so great? I'm definitely up for "making the RP happen" if the plot is awesome, but do I have to worry if my players head of in a completely random direction? And the big question for an urban campaign: How does it deal with going to the police? It seems that many times an adventure smack in the middle of civilization is killed quickest by the PCs being good citizens and telling the mayor what's going on.
Thanks for the comments!
I've only seen one or two of their products, but they were horrible. That, and I've not heard much of anything about them other than "poor editing" and "overpowered." However, I did look at those products, and they do seem interesting. Not a fan of the drow by any means, though, so it'll take some thought. As for Shackled City: Every post I've seen about it makes it out to be written by God himself on leaves of gold. I like urban campaigns, and it seems like there's a lot of plot. But what else can people tell me about it? -Why- is it so great? I'm definitely up for "making the RP happen" if the plot is awesome, but do I have to worry if my players head of in a completely random direction? And the big question for an urban campaign: How does it deal with going to the police? It seems that many times an adventure smack in the middle of civilization is killed quickest by the PCs being good citizens and telling the mayor what's going on.
Thanks for the comments!
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
If you're not stuck on D&D, Grim Tales and Slavelords of Cydonia can't be beat.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Blah! I somehow read your post as pimping DCC.DaveMage said:Is there an echo in here?
(See post #5.)
Quickleaf
Legend
Eltern said:
Well, can't help with your main question, sorry.
But I will say from experience that incorporating a Reputation system can save you from this pitfall. Low rep PCs (low-level) generally can't get the attention of the police for anything except for urgent matters. Highly reputable PCs (high-level) can easily call in the police, but generally they're much more powerful than the city watch. Police, while they may be good hearted, are also shackled by a bureaucratic administration that moves slowly. While one detective might believe the PCs, until there's a trial or condemning evidence, the police force won't be called to bear. Of course, there is always the possibility for a crooked cop. And it only takes one to make the PCs' lives very difficult, and confound their appeals to the authorities.
Yelling for the watch is all well and good if you're in a nice part of town, you're not wielding heavy weapons, and a couple folks know you. However, if you're a stranger with a sword, the police are going to be more than a little suspicious. And in a run-down or dangerous part of town there may be no police to call. Just my 2 cents.
Cthulhu's Librarian
First Post
Morpheus said:
This is a great combo, and Barakus was the Gold ENnie Award winner for Best Adventure last year. You can't beat that!
Also, the Freeport Trilogy (Death In Freeport, Terror in..., and Madness In...) from Green Ronin is excellent, and the revised versions are available in PDF from RPGNow, along with an additional adventure set in the city shortly after the trilogy, called Vengence in Freeport.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
There have been several suggestions that I've been playing have have really enjoyed. I'd suggest either Barakus + Larin Karr or the new adventure path.Eltern said:Summer is almost over again, and I will be returning to college this fall. I'm thinking of running a campaign with a few of my friends who haven't played before, but I'd like to minimize work for myself. You know, I have classes and all that, too.
I've had a lot of success in the past: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and Banewarrens, while at times a bit too dungeon-crawly for my taste, have served me well. I'm considering running one of these again, but I'd like to know what else is out there.
I know Age of Worms is just starting, but I'd rather have a full storyline, start to finish, in my hands from the beginning. Shackled City sounds like it could be fun, but I'm leary of too much dungeon crawl and not enough roleplay, and it sounds like it has elements of railroading. The Freeport Trilogy is supposed to be reprinted soon, but I've only heard "It's good," and not much detail other than that.
World's Largest Dungeon is right out
Any other suggestions? I know this is a kind of product that we haven't had a lot since 2e. I would convert an old module path, but that takes work, which as I said I want to minimize. That, and I'm really RP-focused and want to avoid Ye Olde Dungeon Crawl, which a lot of those were.
Thanks for the help!
Barakus is a great dungeon crawl, but it has a lot more: there's a whole series of city based adventures included as well. I think you could run a campaign for at least six months based solely on Barakus. As far as Larin Karr goes, I have played a little with it but don't actually own it. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as Barakus.
As another suggestion, I'd suggest the Tomb of Abthysor, which I have been running and playing in for over a year. This is an outstanding adventure, but it is also a meatgrinder.
Finally, the new adventure path Age of Worms is just excellent. Even though all of the material is not out yet, it has all been designed from the start, which I think was a weakness of the earlier Adventure Path (which suffered from some continuity problems as a result). This is what I'd ultimately recommend.
File that as "for what it's worth"
--Steve
Hmmm, don't know how to say it any more clearly :
Dungeon Crawl= Not interested
Meatgrinder= Not interested
Granted, my definitions of these are probably a little different. RttToEE, for instance, was a huge PC killing machine, but I know that "fixing" that is pretty easy, since it's also very plot-heavy. So maybe these dungeon crawls many of you are suggesting are still in my ballpark.
Is there somewhere I can get a brief rundown of the Age of Worms plot? After reading the Shackled City preview with it's backstory summary I was VERY interested. Maybe AoW will be similar.
: Dungeon Crawl= Not interested
Meatgrinder= Not interested
Granted, my definitions of these are probably a little different. RttToEE, for instance, was a huge PC killing machine, but I know that "fixing" that is pretty easy, since it's also very plot-heavy. So maybe these dungeon crawls many of you are suggesting are still in my ballpark.
Is there somewhere I can get a brief rundown of the Age of Worms plot? After reading the Shackled City preview with it's backstory summary I was VERY interested. Maybe AoW will be similar.
delericho
Legend
Warning: There be spoilers ahead!
Again, spoilers:
My group finished the campaign at the weekend. The plot is fairly iconic: an evil group of high-level characters seek to free an insane demon-lord from his prison on Carceri. Along the way, they are impeded (at first indirectly, and then directly) by the PCs, who rise from nobodies to become the undisputed heroes of Cauldron. There's more to it than that, of course, but I can hardly summarise 11 Dungeon adventures in one paragraph
The reason the PCs can't just turn everything over to the police: the powers-that-be in Cauldron are corrupt. The corruption starts off as a small thing, but gradually grows more and more intense, culminating in riots and the exile of good men.
The adventures of the Shackled City definately seemed to fit a "mission of the week" theme. The group quickly found themselves with a number of patrons, who each sent them on a mission or missions. Later in the campaign, the PCs have the opportunity to start pulling their patrons into action against the forces that threaten to destroy the city (or, they would have, had my group been interested. They seem very adept at politics in Vampire, but hopeless in D&D for some reason). However, by that point, there are some fairly important things that need done, and the PCs by then are far more powerful than anyone else who might attempt them.
For me, the strength of the Shackled City lay in the encounters that had been set up. The adventure locales are generally interesting and well though out, which means that there are several set-piece encounters that were really tense and interesting. That, and the fact that the preparation had all been done to a level I couldn't have matched.
The weaknesses are exactly those you were concerned about: the DM has to really go to the effort of making sure the role-playing quota is filled (note: it really helps if you insist that the players detail their character's backgrounds - I didn't, and paid for it). And there's a huge amount of combat, much of which is difficult or impossible to avoid.
If you are considering using this campaign, and don't already have the magazines, I recommend waiting for the hardback to come out. Paizo have apparently done a lot of work getting feedback on the campaign, and are working to fix many of the problems it faces.
I wouldn't say the adventures were written by God. I wouldn't even claim they are the best Dungeon adventures I've seen. But I will say that the campaign was a lot of fun, and the fact that all the work of bridging the adventures and advancing the plot had been done for me was absolutely invaluable. I will even go so far as to say that the Shackled City hardcover is probably the single most useful d20 product coming out this year that I am aware of. I almost wish I hadn't played through the campaign, so I could do it all again.
Eltern said:
Again, spoilers:
My group finished the campaign at the weekend. The plot is fairly iconic: an evil group of high-level characters seek to free an insane demon-lord from his prison on Carceri. Along the way, they are impeded (at first indirectly, and then directly) by the PCs, who rise from nobodies to become the undisputed heroes of Cauldron. There's more to it than that, of course, but I can hardly summarise 11 Dungeon adventures in one paragraph
The reason the PCs can't just turn everything over to the police: the powers-that-be in Cauldron are corrupt. The corruption starts off as a small thing, but gradually grows more and more intense, culminating in riots and the exile of good men.
The adventures of the Shackled City definately seemed to fit a "mission of the week" theme. The group quickly found themselves with a number of patrons, who each sent them on a mission or missions. Later in the campaign, the PCs have the opportunity to start pulling their patrons into action against the forces that threaten to destroy the city (or, they would have, had my group been interested. They seem very adept at politics in Vampire, but hopeless in D&D for some reason). However, by that point, there are some fairly important things that need done, and the PCs by then are far more powerful than anyone else who might attempt them.
For me, the strength of the Shackled City lay in the encounters that had been set up. The adventure locales are generally interesting and well though out, which means that there are several set-piece encounters that were really tense and interesting. That, and the fact that the preparation had all been done to a level I couldn't have matched.
The weaknesses are exactly those you were concerned about: the DM has to really go to the effort of making sure the role-playing quota is filled (note: it really helps if you insist that the players detail their character's backgrounds - I didn't, and paid for it). And there's a huge amount of combat, much of which is difficult or impossible to avoid.
If you are considering using this campaign, and don't already have the magazines, I recommend waiting for the hardback to come out. Paizo have apparently done a lot of work getting feedback on the campaign, and are working to fix many of the problems it faces.
I wouldn't say the adventures were written by God. I wouldn't even claim they are the best Dungeon adventures I've seen. But I will say that the campaign was a lot of fun, and the fact that all the work of bridging the adventures and advancing the plot had been done for me was absolutely invaluable. I will even go so far as to say that the Shackled City hardcover is probably the single most useful d20 product coming out this year that I am aware of. I almost wish I hadn't played through the campaign, so I could do it all again.
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