D&D 5E High Level D&D and Shackled City

[GrissTheGnome]

Hey over at my blog I put together some thoughts on high level D&D and the Shackled City adventure path.

http://forgotmydice.com/index.php/2...-dd-5th-edition-shackled-city-adventure-path/

TLDR - 10+ level D&D gets progressively more crazy, D&D5E is easy to convert old adventures into, and Shackled City was pretty fun but the ending was a little off.

 

[Ath-kethin]

". . . if players are rewarded for completing adventures and not just killing everything in sight, they might choose to talk their way through conflicts. Sure, my group didn’t, but yours might!"

This was my favorite line from your recap.

I ran the first three portions of the Shackled City back in the day (I had a subscription to Dungeon and Dragon during the period when it was published) and it was a blast for the most part. My group consisted of only two players (plus me), and one of them had to move 300+ miles away for work in July of 2003, so the campaign fizzled at that point.

Anyway, I liked your observations about higher-level play, but in fairness, 10th+ level play has been pretty insane in every edition of D&D I've ever been involved with. I think that's why the 2e High-Level Campaigns book defined "high level" as starting at level 10.

 

[GrissTheGnome]

Oh I agree with high level D&D, honestly this was my first GM experience with it. As they say, you can't be told what the Matrix is, you have to experience it for yourself. The experience was enlightening to say the least.

The biggest lesson I learned is what high level D&D is. There are a lot of fan made archetypes and what not, and often the higher level abilities get called out for being "over powered." Having actually done high level D&D it's much easier to spot when something is over powered, and when it's not (most of the time, people are wrong and it's underpowered). It's a matter of perspective I guess.