Refresher PBP Vault Redux (OOC)

[FitzTheRuke]

I played FoF back when it was released for 3e. My memories of it are quite vague, other than I thought it was a fun adventure.

Haw! If you're anything like me, you won't have any memory of it other than a vague sense of deja-vu if we play it. (Actually, if we play it, you probably won't recognise it much at all, as I'll be changing the nature of the occupants, who were classic Orcs. I ran it recently at my store, and as a player was playing a 2024 Orc, I felt it would be strange to portray orcs the oldschool way with an orc in the party, so I changed them up. If I run it, I'll use what I came up with).

Before my long aside, I was going to say - I ran FoF when it came out, and years later someone ran it for me, and I spent most of the game with a weird sense of deja-vu without realizing that I knew it. I had the same thing happen when playing Temple of Elemental Evil. I didn't think that I'd ever played it (I missed most modules back in the day because we mostly made stuff up and avoided published adventures) but I had a crazy sense of deja-vu before discovering that it was what the DM ran the very first time I ever played D&D (it was only a single session and we hadn't gotten very far, which is why I didn't know I'd played a bit of it).

 

[Lidgar]

Right, I’ve had very similar experiences Fitz. When you’ve gamed long enough, so many adventures blend together or fade away completely. Looking forward to whatever we run - this is a great group of players.

 

[Leatherhead]

A quick game does sound fun. I haven't played most of the 2024 classes yet, so hopefully they will all feel fresh. Maybe a Rogue?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes, everyone should start working on level three characters. When we nail down the adventure, I'll post an RG for you to put them.

 

[Tonguez]

I havent played Forge of Fury and of the 'interregnum' pack I've never heard of any but Dead in Thay
multiple groups entering the same dungeon sounds exciting

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I havent played Forge of Fury and of the 'interregnum' pack I've never heard of any but Dead in Thay
multiple groups entering the same dungeon sounds exciting

When Vault of the Dracolich came out (in 2013?) it was sent to us by WotC for a "Game Day" - it was by far the most successful game event that I've ever had at my store. We played 3 tables, with 3 DMs and 3 Parties. I was a sort of DM's DM. I was helping the staff run the store, but I was also moving between tables, seeing where everyone was at, and delivering messages (the PCs had Sending Stones and we kept things moving in "real time".) Highjinx ensued like one PC getting teleported to another group (the player was made to switch tables) and two groups ran into each other (tables joined for a brief bit).

I ran the grand finale with all the surviving PCs in one big table, which worked out perfectly because one DM had to go, and one player had to go, so the 2nd DM used the missing player's PC, and the third DM was one of my employees and took over for me running the store.

At any rate, it was memorably awesome. I've run it many times since, including here as my first PBP (eight years ago!?) but other than here, which started with three groups, I have mostly only been able to run it as a "regular"-style dungeon with a single party. At this point, what's actually in the adventure and what is stuff that I've made up or inferred from the text and extrapolated on... there's a lot more to it, story-wise, which can make it take longer. But it really was designed for a single session. A LONG session, but one.

Looking into my old PBP, though, it took us... two years! Wow. PBP can be slow. This thought occurred to me when looking into adventures. Some suggested Candlekeep or Golden Vault, but you all know how long the Giants games took, and those things are only a handful of pages each in Yawning Portal!

So, maybe I should just run an actual one-shot, as opposed to a full (even if small) adventure module, but I'm starting to get keen on the idea of Vault of the Dracolich again, or Forge of Fury (which could conceivably be run just like Vault - it's got a similar layout).

As always, opinions are welcome.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Haven’t done Vault or Forge. Good for anything! I’ll noodle up a third level 5e24 character in the meantime.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I’m going to do a barbarian. I don’t want to have to deal with a bard’s inspiration in a pbp.

 

[Tonguez]

So is Warforged an option for 2024? Warforged Gloom Stalker maybe

 

[Neurotic]

Never heard of the vault and the forge was at that sensitive time i got twins...so...I skipped most of 3.5 era

I have to check (again) what's new, I only checked barbarians