D&D General Dungeons of Drakkenheim Experiences?

[Evaniel]

Hi, all.

Once my group finishes Quests from the Infinite Staircase, we're beginning Dungeons of Drakkenheim as a way to try out the '24 rules. I'm hoping to run it as BtB as possible--particularly the exploration rules. For those of you who've played through it (or are playing through it now), I'm curious about your experience. I have some specific questions below, but I'm interested in overall impressions, as well.

• How did you handle scavenging for treasure? Scavenging for delerium seems pretty clear to me, but there's nothing really for treasure at all. I was thinking that a successful check would enable a roll (maybe with advantage?) on the "Lucky Finds" table typically reserved for after random encounters.
• How did you find the economics as a whole? On the one hand I like the added cost of equipment and such, as it would serve as a bit of a gold sink early game. On the other seems the high cost for plate armor seems punitive for fighters, especially given the overall scarcity of gold (and that delerium and art objects can only be sold for half value).
• Are the variety of random encounters (which seem pretty significant for the DoD campaign) varied enough? I feel like after a few levels adventuring in the Outer City, the PCs would almost necessarily trigger the same encounter several times.
• How do you think the new Bastion rules would "play" with the other components of the DoD campaign? I get the sense that thematically they'd work well together, as the factions in DoD would be a ready source of hirelings and defenders. However, I don't know how well they would play Drakkenheim economics and such. For example, food can't be grown in the vicinity, so I can't imagine Gardens or Greenhouses being viable facilities. I'm also a little leary of storehouses and how those might serve as "gold farms" so to speak. Any intuition?

I'll probably have other questions as I get closer to finishing prep. Thanks in advance!

 

[zakael19]

The way I understood it, the book really wants you to engage with the factions for treasure as rewards for gaining trust/doing quests. There's some really powerful magic items hiding in there in encounter locations as well. Multiple successes could go to Lucky Finds (or you could do a balance of delerium/finds depending on where they are), but also remember that a big chunk of the city is supposed to be pretty picked over.

Id Leverage the factions to offer "better prices" for delerium; trade for faction appropriate treasure; and such like.

I wouldn't use Bastions. This is supposed to be a magically contaminated wasteland and the limitations on safety and cost are core loop drivers.