So did your group win the War of the Burning Sky?

[SuperJebba]

Greetings, all! I am prepping this AP to run and I often find myself wondering if my group is up to the challenge of winning the War of the Burning Sky. This campaign is so unlike anything I have ever read. It is very deep, very complicated with so many different factions and players in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, the PCs are given so much power and prestige that I am not sure how my players will respond. This campaign plays out more like a great book or movie trilogy than a standard DnD adventure.

So I ask, how did your groups do? Did they win? Did they rise to the occasion and become kings? Or did NPCs pretty much run the show? Were they able to keep track of everything well enough?

I know most people have likely moved onto Zeitgeist, but I would love to know how everyone did with this absolutely epic campaign.

 

[OnlineDM]

My group is about halfway through - just about to hit level 15. So far, so good! It's been a lot of fun.

 

[Eccles]

The group I'm playing in is at level 29 and have done pretty comfortably so far, I'd thought.

I came in here seeking solace, though - module 12 is kicking our collective backsides!

 

[Ragnar_Deerslayer]

We're doing the 3.5 version under Trailblazer rules. After 30+ sessions, our party is at the Monastery of the Two Winds.

We're having a blast so far, and starting with Adv #2, I've been recording all the sessions. My players are intelligent, creative, and very funny. WotBS gives them a chance to shine.

As a DM, I think I've done pretty well in keeping the NPCs in the background. Torrent really pushed the first adventure, but once things started to get chaotic in the Fire Forest, I had her start doubting herself and deferring to the PCs' leadership. They took it from there, and they've never had a problem being overshadowed by NPCs since.

There are a lot of factions and complexity, but as long as you have at least one player who can keep up, s/he can fill the rest of the party in from time to time.

Ragnar

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I started running WoBS when it first came out in 3x and converted to 4e along the way. My group is limited to a 4 hour session every month, so we have only gotten to module 9 and I have had to strip alot of complexity out of the story line. Despite that, I think it is still the best AP I have ever seen. If I have the opportunity to play once a week for 6 to 8 hours.. I could really delve into the world.

I mean, The Mad Kings Banquet could be a stand alone campaign all in itself!

As to Torrent and company, I started with 8 players so I ditched her pretty quick. The NPCs have remained important altho I need to remind them of the connection quite often. For instance, Kathor Danava shows up in module #9 as a possible ally... he an opponent in module #1.

I do expect the group to 'win', altho I came here to post a new thread asking a serious question about the Torch

 

[Selganor]

We started in 3.5 and had a LONG (3 year) pause when 4e was released. Now the campaigns we played in 4e have simmered down (partly to DM "burnout") and I continued WotBS in 4e where we ended it last time and finished adventure 5; now wie are in the last act of adventure 6 (and would have gotten a TPK in the "Welcoming Party" if I hadn't changed the skirmishers on the fly)

 

[Gregor]

I'm running a PbP campaign for War of the Burning Sky here on Enworld. We're now entering the 10th month of the game and the party is about 1/3rd of the way through Chapter 3: Shelter From the Storm.

They are currently running through a side quest to help Seaquen out while a timer counts down to the events on the Wayfarer's Theater Ship. Its been a blast to run and I think, maybe over the next couple of years, the party should emerge victorious in the war!

 

[amethal]

I ran it in 3.5, and our group completed the adventure and "won" the war. We had a lot of fun along the way, but by the end I think we all just wanted to finish the thing and move on to something else.

Our group was fairly optimised (almost everything from the splatbooks was allwoed, and we had most of the books), and they found the fights got easier the longer the campaign went on. I had to start giving the bad guys more hit points to compensate; with hindsight I should have upped their saving throws a bit as well.

However, part of it was my fault. I was running WotBS because I didn't have much time for preparation, but as the monsters got more and more complicated I was struggling to run them effectively because I was under-prepared.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I made it through the entire 3.5 campaign as a player. We defeated all the big bad guys in the end, and one PC sacrificed himself to save the world.

Overall it was good times.

 

[Morrus]

Our group is limping towards the end of #12. Unfortunately, it's an entirely different group to the group that started the adventure path (save for one player) so I don't feel a strong sense of continuity with the campaign. Can't be helped, though!