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DMs Concerns vs Actual Players' Perceptions/Experiences
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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9356406" data-attributes="member: 6796661"><p>Yep. I ran it for 5 years. 5e version.</p><p></p><p>Even the aids they add to help DMs just feel so complicated. That level map looks like a business-process design created by a drunk engineer (well, we are talking about talking about Bill Webb <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />).</p><p></p><p>Putting it in Foundry really helped <em>run</em> the game, but, boy, that was a LOT of work. I only put the maps in and a lot of the custom monsters, but that was still a lot of work. But it certainly makes it easier to run. Especially with the Foundry module "Multilevel Tokens" which would automatically move PC tokens from one map to the next when they game to a place that took them to another map.</p><p></p><p>My main advice to running it is that there are hundreds of pages of fluff you can ignore. It is gonzo, megadungeon sandbox. Most (but not all) of the time, you can quickly read over a rooms description and just run it. I like how for more important encounters, the book give combat tactics for the NPCs/monsters. That saves time on not having to study the monster stat block as carefully.</p><p></p><p>That said, I do like the flavor text and read the intro text for the various levels and areas, the history timelines, and other fluff. That inspired me to create my own factions, plot lines, and otherwise bring the dungeon to life and determine how things would change and react to player actions.</p><p></p><p>Another piece of advice. Most groups are not going to play in the same mega dungeon for multiple years. Rappan Athuk is huge. But treat it as a tool box. You can pull you levels or areas to put into your own campaign. You need a subterranean Goblin town, take Greznek and put it into your own campaign. You need a minitaur maze, pull out the section with the phase minitaurs. You want an evil cultist temple, pull out any of the many temples in Rappan Athuk and put into your game. They have evil temples for all tiers of play.</p><p></p><p>I really think of Rappan Athuk more as a setting book and dungeon tool box more than an adventure. Especially by modern adventure-design standards. What's the plot? There is a massive dungeon. Explore it for riches or to fight evil. I guess an overall goal is "defeat orcus", but how many groups are ever going to get that far? It took my group years of play. The story and plots emerged from play more than being laid out by the book.</p><p></p><p>FGG has some great adventures (esp. those written by Matt Finch) that are manageable and decently organized and not bloated. Rappan Atthuk, City of Brass, The Blight, The Slumbering Tsar Saga are more like settings with the detail of adventures.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 9356406, member: 6796661"] Yep. I ran it for 5 years. 5e version. Even the aids they add to help DMs just feel so complicated. That level map looks like a business-process design created by a drunk engineer (well, we are talking about talking about Bill Webb ;)). Putting it in Foundry really helped [I]run[/I] the game, but, boy, that was a LOT of work. I only put the maps in and a lot of the custom monsters, but that was still a lot of work. But it certainly makes it easier to run. Especially with the Foundry module "Multilevel Tokens" which would automatically move PC tokens from one map to the next when they game to a place that took them to another map. My main advice to running it is that there are hundreds of pages of fluff you can ignore. It is gonzo, megadungeon sandbox. Most (but not all) of the time, you can quickly read over a rooms description and just run it. I like how for more important encounters, the book give combat tactics for the NPCs/monsters. That saves time on not having to study the monster stat block as carefully. That said, I do like the flavor text and read the intro text for the various levels and areas, the history timelines, and other fluff. That inspired me to create my own factions, plot lines, and otherwise bring the dungeon to life and determine how things would change and react to player actions. Another piece of advice. Most groups are not going to play in the same mega dungeon for multiple years. Rappan Athuk is huge. But treat it as a tool box. You can pull you levels or areas to put into your own campaign. You need a subterranean Goblin town, take Greznek and put it into your own campaign. You need a minitaur maze, pull out the section with the phase minitaurs. You want an evil cultist temple, pull out any of the many temples in Rappan Athuk and put into your game. They have evil temples for all tiers of play. I really think of Rappan Athuk more as a setting book and dungeon tool box more than an adventure. Especially by modern adventure-design standards. What's the plot? There is a massive dungeon. Explore it for riches or to fight evil. I guess an overall goal is "defeat orcus", but how many groups are ever going to get that far? It took my group years of play. The story and plots emerged from play more than being laid out by the book. FGG has some great adventures (esp. those written by Matt Finch) that are manageable and decently organized and not bloated. Rappan Atthuk, City of Brass, The Blight, The Slumbering Tsar Saga are more like settings with the detail of adventures. [/QUOTE]
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