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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dozen" data-source="post: 5987336" data-attributes="member: 6698275">[sblock=Spoilers for the RttToEE]Getting into specifics when in a race of time is hard to accomplish, but it's not as horrible as Nezkrul explains. Still, your safest bet, as loathsome as it is, would be a kind of shade-of-grey railroading; that is, no matter what path the players choose, they'd get enough XP to burn trough those levels in time. But in the end, aquiring levels is not necessarily a matter of time even if the victory condition is. It depends more on the number of encounters and the way you reward your players for solving them.I dunno about the Red Hand of Doom mentioned before, but handcrafting is alway a safer method than a set standard.That settled, let's get into specifics. If I were you, I'd go for the more comfortably paced 1 encounter per day on average. You are supposed to be able to calculate the number of encounters required to gain a level from ECL, but sadly ECL is rarely fit to be relied on. We should try a different approach. Divide the XP requirement for each level by the XP they should get for every encounter the level they are at on average (the exact amount is up to you). Add them up. The result is the number of encounters you will need.Now, scale your timeline according to this. A usual level-appropriate encounter may still end with some serious wounds or too much wasted spell slots they can't ignore if they mess up at one point, which essentially is eight hours worth of setback. Lenghten the timeline by, say, 4-9 days to allow your players some time to recover from those. I think this should prove solvable enough.You should also take the players' motives and plans into account. Do  they want to get to their destination the fastest or at least the fastest  logical way possible? In that case, you should make sure at least two times those ways award enough XP to reach the level cap you want to achieve by  doing the math or you may find yourself over your head. Do they want to hoard up  treasure instead on the way, or do sidequests? Then stretch the timeline a little, but not too much, and keep them pressured to  remind them what they are risking. Are they the kind who like to defy you just for the hell of it? Then you might as well double or  triple the time they have while subtly trying to get them to the plot. Outright oldschool railroading is not an option here. The more you stretch the campaign, the more time you'll have to figure out how to lure them to the ending without being malicious. Some personal sidequests for each player which in the end get tied to each other and the temple might be a good start. The best quest for each player is the ones they set up for themselves or those that fullfill their reason for playing. These pretty much fall into your lap; you'll only have to figure out how are those quests impeded by the villains or how beating them will advance it - this will make the main plot feel personal for them.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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