Running Modules H1-H4: Experience and Advice

[Mystery Man]

Please forward query to:

Army of 100+ Liches
c/o Larloch the Archlich,
Warlock's Tomb,
Sword Coast, FR 389992

LoL!

Speaking of which, what would be a truly horrifying encounter for lower level PC's that would leave them alive but forever after unwilling to go within a hundred leagues of that place?


As for the battles, If I ever converted these modules myself that would probably be the excuse I need to buy the minis handbook. If I didn't want to go to the trouble I'd probably just center an important part of the battle around the players and have the rest go on in the background. A friend and fellow DM of mine is running the 2E version right now and pretty much handled the battles that way.

 

[Henry]

My personal favorite Random Encounter from H4 is:

A Demilich.

How does one randomly encounter a demi-lich, anyway?

PC1:"Ooh, look, a skull and some dust on the path! How'd that get there, and why is it undisturbed?"

PC2:"Hey, look! There's gems in that skull! Let's go - URK!"

 

[Henry]

Or anyone have any suggestions how to get the big battle feel without actually running a Battlesystem game? I was thinking, watching 12h of combat during the LotR Trillogy Tuesday, of trying to break it down into little vignettes (ie, hold the gate! take care of these commanders over here!, etc) but I'm worried while in books its great because you have control over all the actors, in an RPG its harder to get your PCs to go to those little events. Any ideas?

You have the best idea: Decide on a "flow" of the battle, and let the battle's outcome be determined by how successful the PC's are at key encounters within the war. If they win soundly with few or no losses, the war is won by their side easily; if they win pyrrhic victories, so does their side. If they lose completely, their side is routed.

As for H4, you need to thoroughly redesign it if you want to expand it; it's mission is (spoiler)

Spoiler

to go to the Abyss, using a Lich-king's gate/amulet (I forget which) and fight your way to Orcus. You could expand it by inserting allies along the way such as emmisaries of Grazz't and other demon princes, and the PC's decide can we do this on our own, or should we break our morals and ally with a demon to kill a demon? You can get lots of play-time off of demonic deals and rivalries.

 

[rounser]

PC1:"Ooh, look, a skull and some dust on the path! How'd that get there, and why is it undisturbed?"

PC2:"Hey, look! There's gems in that skull! Let's go - URK!"

LOL

Or possibly:
*bonk*
PC1: "OW! Who threw that?"
PC2: "Hey, look! (etc.)"

 

[Zaukrie]

I don't have any suggestion on how to update, or even run the battles, but this site:

http://www.steigerwaldedv.com/vintyri/njstart.htm

has perhaps the most developed story for an adventure/campaign I've seen on the web. It either incorporates H1-H4, or completely over-writes them, your choice. I have not visited the site in a long time, but at one point they had 6-8 adventures/campaigns with hundreds of pages of background and story covering the North in Faerun.

 

[mmadsen]

I don't have any suggestion on how to update, or even run the battles, but this site has perhaps the most developed story for an adventure/campaign I've seen on the web.

That's an understatement! The campaign guide -- before you get to any of the actual modules -- is almost 400 pages.

 

[Kannik]

http://www.steigerwaldedv.com/vintyri/njstart.htm

YIKES... that is quite the impressive body of work at that site A bit more involved than I was thinking of (and the 'module' for the Bloodstone campaign takes place as an after-part to H1-H4, though some of the backstory from the previous modules may be usable as an expansion).

Insofar as the mass combat, assuming I go the abstract route, what is the prevailing opinon on Miniatures Rules vs Cry Havoc?

As the Vignette way, should I create 'instances' and hope the players rush to them, or should I place them in specific areas (you are running over here when...) and run the encounters then?

And wasn't there an adventure published by TSR where one of the wandering monsters was Demigorgon? "Ladida, out for my morning walk, oo, look, adventurers, rar!" etc...

(and as a side note, I think I have enough interest so it looks like I will be running the game }

Kannik