Fast advancement in Age of Worms and other campaigns

[MerricB]

At present, my AoW party is about to hit 11th level (6 PCs). After 18 sessions, each 3-4 hours.

Hmm. That seems pretty fast.

Session #1: 22 July 2005 - The Whispering Cairn
Session #2: 19 August 2005 - The Whispering Cairn
Session #3: 2 September 2005 - The Whispering Cairn
Session #4: 16 September 2005 - Three Faces of Evil
Session #5: 14 October 2005 - Three Faces of Evil
Session #6: 28 October 2005 - Three Faces of Evil
Session #7: 18 November 2005 - Three Faces of Evil
Session #8: 10 December 2005 - Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Session #9: 23 December 2005 - Encounter at Blackwall Keep
Session #10: 6 January 2006 - The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Session #11: 20 January 2006 - The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Session #12: 3 February 2006 - The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Session #13: 17 February 2006 - The Hall of Harsh Reflections
Session #14: 3 March 2006 - The Champion's Belt
Session #15: 17 March 2006 - The Champion's Belt
Session #16: 5 May 2006 - The Champion's Belt
Session #17: 19 May 2006 - A Gathering of Winds
Session #18: 2 June 2006 - A Gathering of Winds

One interesting thing about this is that it actually works really well for how often we play.

I wonder if we were playing on a weekly basis (rather the "fortnightly if we're lucky" version), I'd be slowing things down and doing more roleplaying? (That isn't to say that there isn't any roleplaying, but certainly I tend to push the adventure & plot more than let people just swan about in bars.)

Meanwhile, in my Ulek campaign, which runs weekly, I've deliberately been planning sessions in advance to slow down XP awards. (Thus, I plan a session around giving each of the 6th level PCs 1500 XP...) Ulek is going more role-playing/political anyway.

Are my friends and I having fun? Absolutely. It's just very interesting to look at the rate of advancement and, indeed, play time for each adventure and compare it to what I might expect.

Encounter at Blackwall Keep took two sessions to play through. I might have expected 7-8 given that you should gain 2 levels in it!

Cheers!

 

[Pants]

What's been your groups favorite adventure/session so far?

Always interested in reading about other AoW experiences.

 

[MerricB]

Our last session was pretty memorable - in A Gathering of Winds, the group got to talk to three different evil creatures and make deals with them. Lots and lots of fun, especially as it was the Paladin acting as the group's spokesman. (He and I have a more liberal view of what a paladin can do...)

There was also the great moment when the barbarian took down the Ebon Aspect singlehandedly...

Cheers!

 

[demiurge1138]

Yeah, Encounter at Blackwall Keep is a really short module. I've gotten through it in two nights, with a little of Three Faces of Evil tacked on.

Not that it's not a damn good module - I think it's my favorite of the low-level modules, especially how it turned out in play with the first group I ran through it. That last encounter tickles me to the core of my DM soul.

Demiurge out.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I wonder if we were playing on a weekly basis (rather the "fortnightly if we're lucky" version), I'd be slowing things down and doing more roleplaying? (That isn't to say that there isn't any roleplaying, but certainly I tend to push the adventure & plot more than let people just swan about in bars.)

Cheers!

Wow. It's like my Shackled City campaign. I try to keep the group focused on moving through the adventure path just so I can finish it. (I'd like to finish one long term campaign before the player's break up over scheduling, etc...)

They're 12th level now and on Chapter Eight raiding the rogue's lair.

 

[MerricB]

They're 12th level now and on Chapter Eight raiding the rogue's lair.

How many sessions so far, Joe?

Cheers!

 

[Aesthetic Monk]

Wow. It's like my Shackled City campaign.

As a related aside, my group, now about half the size it was a few weeks ago, leveled twice in one night at the start of Shackled City. I don't think I've ever done that before, even if we're talking about going from 1st to 3rd. But it may have something to do with the fact that this is our fourth new campaign in less than a year, with the others collapsing for one reason or another (including my Age of Worms effort).

 

[Thomas Percy]

I find level advancement in D&D both too fast and too slow.
It's nice to gain new level, so I want to do this every game session.
But I know that too fast advancement means quick end of the story, because my PC reaches 20th level and DM will end a campaign.
Maybe there will be more than 20 (maybe 100) levels in 4e.

 

[Yair]

I also find advancement too fast in some ways.

It is too fast in the game-world. Too much change in too short a time, without any due cause. It just stretches believability for me.

It about right right, perhaps a little slow at high levels, in the real-world. I only play rarely. It's fun to raise levels, and given that I play rarely i'd like to do so every session or two.

 

[hexgrid]

I find advancement to be implausibly fast from an in-game perspective, but it's fun, so I don't worry about it much.

D&D doesn't functions well as simulation (of anything), so I try not to expect it too.