D&D 5E Expedition to the Demonweb Pits as a sequel to Out of the Abyss?

[Klaudius Rex]

Si it finally happened! My group finished the entire 15th level adventure path, Out of the Abyss this weekend, with the final BBEG being Orcus.

There are suggestions on could possibly lie next, but im considering adapting the 3e adventure Expedition to the Demonweb Pits with the characters ultimately confronting Lolth, who is at the root of all these problems.

Im here to see what you guys think about this? Has anyone else finished Out of the Abyss? What if anything did your group do afterwards? What do you think about using material from 3rd edition such as Expedition to the Demonweb Pits as a sequel to Out of the Abyss?

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is a 3e mega-adventure meant for characters 9th through 12th levels of that edition. I would of course have to fluff it up, and do some adaptions, but i think it is possible to run with a little work. My characters are 15th-16th level after finishing Out of the Abyss, and i would have to squeeze Expedition to the Demonweb Pits in before the 20th level max.

You guys are the D&D gurus. Let me know what you think.

 

[Ezequielramone]

I'm runing OotA, last session characters had the last random encounter before reaching surface (they still don't believe they are really gone see the sun).
Since the Baenre wizard is the RAW root of the caos, it makes sense to be Lloth the real root in your home game.

I really believe this campaign should go till players are bored with their characters. When they reach surface for the first time they can change one or two PCs just to keep things fresh. Killing Orcus should be another turning point for your campaign IMHO. My advice is to offer that and ask your player if they want to keep playing those character in another dark and hostile enviroment. Maybe your players are really in love with the campaign and their characters going through those places, but maybe not. So, GO AHEAD if your players want.
I'm also running Tyranny of Dragons and between book 1 and 2 we connected Storm King's Thunder, but I asked my players first.
The group which is playing OotA went through ToD first, they loved their characters and their characters were creating bonds slowly till the point one could give his life for the other. They wanted to keep those characters alive, but also they wanted to play another thing before continue, so I let an open ending after Tiamat (they prevented the summoning) and we are going to continue in the planes (they don't know they are in the planes now).

So, ask your players always you are going to use something they are not aware of.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

We’re still months away from the conclusion, but going after Lolth sounds like a cool and logical continuation, if, as Ezequielramone said, your players want to do so.

For my part, my plan is to end the campaign after Out of the Abyss ends. I’m not a big fan of high level play, and there are plenty of other games/campaigns waiting in the wings. I might do a coda “getting the band back together” adventure at some point, but in my experience some folks somehow manage to entirely lose their character sheets, which puts a damper on things.

 

[Davelozzi]

I might do a coda “getting the band back together” adventure at some point, but in my experience some folks somehow manage to entirely lose their character sheets, which puts a damper on things.

Just take a scan of them or make a copy to save in your DM files. I usually save the ending character sheets from any long running campaign and tend to regret it when I don't.

 

[Klaudius Rex]

I'm runing OotA, last session characters had the last random encounter before reaching surface (they still don't believe they are really gone see the sun).
Since the Baenre wizard is the RAW root of the caos, it makes sense to be Lloth the real root in your home game.

I really believe this campaign should go till players are bored with their characters. When they reach surface for the first time they can change one or two PCs just to keep things fresh. Killing Orcus should be another turning point for your campaign IMHO. My advice is to offer that and ask your player if they want to keep playing those character in another dark and hostile enviroment. Maybe your players are really in love with the campaign and their characters going through those places, but maybe not. So, GO AHEAD if your players want.
I'm also running Tyranny of Dragons and between book 1 and 2 we connected Storm King's Thunder, but I asked my players first.
The group which is playing OotA went through ToD first, they loved their characters and their characters were creating bonds slowly till the point one could give his life for the other. They wanted to keep those characters alive, but also they wanted to play another thing before continue, so I let an open ending after Tiamat (they prevented the summoning) and we are going to continue in the planes (they don't know they are in the planes now).

So, ask your players always you are going to use something they are not aware of.

of course, that goes without saying, and i have already asked my players. They are all interested in continueing onto level 20, and heading into the Demonweb Pits to fight Lolth is soething they are very much on board with doing.

My question wasnt whether i should consult my players or not, but rather, is Expedition to the Demonweb Pits a legit adventure module for post-Out of the Abyss play?, especially in light of the fact that it is written for an entirely different edition and level span.

I really wanted to know if anyone out there has even ran Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, and could may be comment or shed light on it being a good enough adventure to follow Out of the Abyss with.

Either way, thank you for your input. I meant not offense. It is appreciated since most DMs do tend to railroad adventures down the players throats without consideration for what players want to do afterwards.

 

[wedgeski]

My OotA campaign has gone very, very homebrew, but Lolth is still the force behind the curtain, so I might consider this myself!

 

[Luz]

I can't comment on Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (never read it), but a few other modules that take place in the Demonweb might interest you:

The Harrowing by Monte Cook (Dungeon magazine #84, for 15th level characters, 3rd edition).

Skein of the Death Mother by John Turcotte is a pretty good fan-made module that serves as an alternative to Q1. Its for levels 10-14, AD&D.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That’s a great idea!

It still baffles me a little how easily some people misplace their sheets. I get that a person might have lost it five years later, but in the span of a year?

Just take a scan of them or make a copy to save in your DM files. I usually save the ending character sheets from any long running campaign and tend to regret it when I don't.

 

[jimmytheccomic]

Wolfgang Baur is really dependable for writing of "cosmic level" epic tier stories- I haven't read that module in particular, but I'm sure it's great. Even if you can't run it straight from the book, it'll certainly have great inspiration to help you build a huge climax.

 

[hastur_nz]

I've used some of Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, under 3.5 rules as the 'cap stone' for Shattered Gates of Slaughterguarde, so from memory it was more like 9th level PC's for me. I've also played the first half of Out of the Abyss, and skim-read the second half as we moved on to another adventure. I've also DM'd various campaigns which went from level 1 to level 20+ in 3.5, 4.0 (1-30+), and 5e (1-20+).

One thing about top-tier campaigns, is that whatever you use for the adventure(s), you'll need to customise it to some degree, to make it an appropriate challenge for your particular group of players. Exactly how much work this is will depend, but for 5e there's little or no decent published material for play up to level 20, and the guidelines in the DMG break down, as do a lot of the monsters in the MM - generally "as written" fights are just not tough enough especially if you have seasoned players with seasoned PC's. And you have to balance the "grind" as everything has so many hit points, turns can take forever, etc etc. So no matter what, you're going to have some work ahead of you, to keep it fun...

From memory, I'd say Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is actually quite similar to the second half of Out of the Abyss - plotting and scheming among various demons, which the PC's might leverage to defeat their plot(s). Also, as written it really isn't geared towards what I'd call "Epic" style play - definitely mid-tier. So I'm not sure it would easily translate into a level 16-20 adventure. By all means have a flick through it / do some more research, and make up your own mind, but I think you are in danger of a major plot re-tread.

I think you could certainly use "full" version of demon princes etc, instead of the very-much-nerfed "aspects" that (from memory) are in EttDP, but I suspect you'll also be doing a heck of a lot of re-work for every potential combat encounter, to make it more appropriate to the PC's levels. Bear in mind, EttDP was one of the last 3.5 adventure books, where they really started to focus on set-piece combats that were pretty well designed, ala 4th edition, so in a sense you've got some interesting combat encounters, but you might just find it a lot of work to find / tweak (or make up) appropriate 5e monsters to keep it challenging.

Personally, I'd be more inclined to use the original AD&D module, Q1, and convert that to 5e, I suspect it would be no more difficult and it's kind of more linear in terms of "get Lolth". Or, use something more like the end-part(s) of the Savage Tide Adventure Path (I ran it in 4e; BBEG = Demogorgon, but could be changed; it's a cool extra-planar romp towards the end), or go Planescape e.g. Dead Gods (currently I'm playing this in 5e, using a free conversion pdf; our DM plans on going to level 20 IIRC; BBEG is Orcus? You'd probably only need the second half bits). Or, do something completely home-brew.