Soliciting Advice & Stories pertaining to RttToEE

[Quickbeam]

Starting this weekend, I will be assuming the DM reins for our group's campaign which is presently working through RttToEE. Those of you who know me (and my various tales) are aware of the fact that our group rotates the DM chores amongst three of our seven participants. The current DM is suddenly asking to relinquish the mantle due to RL concerns and time constraints, and I'm taking over.
I've spent the past week reading much of the campaign background material and DM notes, and already see a dozen ways to improve this awesome adventure. Sadly, I feel we've been let down thus far by our friend's performance as DM. And while I'm going to miss being a player, I'm excited to have the opportunity to help RttToEE live up to its hype!!
As a player, I've totally ignored all of the many various posts & threads relating to the campaign seen herein. Now I'm asking anyone who's DM'ed or put or character through RttToEE to offer up their advice, stories, and thoughts on how to get the most out of the adventure. Our party has already been through most of the Moathouse Dungeon, Nulb, and the fallen Temple pretty thoroughly. Much was left unexplored in Hommlet (which I intend to see corrected) and IMO the party doesn't know enough about the Temple of All Comsumption to seek it out yet. I plan of really delving into the sinister history of events surrounding the Temple and cult; pushing the players to use their social (and other more devious) skills to acquire information; and really staying on top of the action (and interaction) once the party has commenced working their way through the Ridge Mines. As I said, I'm fairly disappointed with how things have been run, now that I can see behind the DM screen and into the module.

Thanks in advance for sharing .

 

[Silverthrone]

Beware the horridly done temple section. Do not know the proper name for it, but it is a large temple in a volcanoe or mountain and if your party has access to flight magic and a couple of knock spells, they can circumvent almost the entire adventure that way.

The main part of the dungeon is in a temple in a spire at the center of the volcanoe's extinct caluderra, and the dungeon is about getting access to it, something that any part with flight magic could do easily by flying across to it and thereby avoiding the dungeoun. Instead of opening the door in the dungeon, they could merely open it with magic instead.

Also, the magical items are way weaker than the first adventure. No fragrach the answer here, just some weak elemental swords.

The final battle is a tough one, elemental fire weapons and spells are ultimately worth far less than others, and way less than ones of water.

I generally had an easy time with this adventure running a single character who survived the adventure and defeated the end boss (Yuck, this dumb adventure runs so much like a video game.). It does not take much brawn if you use lots of intellect except for the first big battle (With the dragon.), the second big battle (At the temple.), and the thrid big battle (With the final boss.).

Make sure your party has decent magical weapons before entering the spire and really good ones before entering the final boss battle.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Sounds like you're already on the right track. The group I was going to run through the adventure split up due to a number of different RL concerns shortly after they investigated the moathouse, so I never got to finish it

I get the feeling they would have been pretty bored by the crater ridge mines, however. Those need a lot of work in order to make them seem like something other than an uber-dungeon crawl.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Beware the horridly done temple section. Do not know the proper name for it, but it is a large temple in a volcanoe or mountain and if your party has access to flight magic and a couple of knock spells, they can circumvent almost the entire adventure that way.

The main part of the dungeon is in a temple in a spire at the center of the volcanoe's extinct caluderra, and the dungeon is about getting access to it, something that any part with flight magic could do easily by flying across to it and thereby avoiding the dungeoun. Instead of opening the door in the dungeon, they could merely open it with magic instead.

They can't circumvent the whole adventure by flying over it. There's some sort of magic device (in other words, a Tesla coil) that zaps anyone who tries to fly over the lake. A silly use of railroading, perhaps, but its' pretty necessary with the way the dungeon is set up. I'm not sure about the doors, but I didn't think those could be unlocked with a knock spell.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I generally had an easy time with this adventure running a single character who survived the adventure and defeated the end boss (Yuck, this dumb adventure runs so much like a video game.). It does not take much brawn if you use lots of intellect except for the first big battle (With the dragon.), the second big battle (At the temple.), and the thrid big battle (With the final boss.).

He must have been an ubermunch, since from most accounts this adventure is a meatgrinder for four characters, let alone one.

 

[Zenon]

SPOILERS AHEAD! POTENTIAL PLAYERS READ NO FURTHER!!!
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Hi Quickbeam!

Avail youself of the resources of Monte's boards at http://www.montecook.com

There is an entire DM only forum of RttToEE, you will find it very helpful when starting this adventure (campaign is more like it). The forum is chock full of Errata, FAQ's and other great ideas, handout locations etc for DMs running this.

I disagree with Silverthrone, the module is what you and your group make out of it. If you want a "hackfest" it certainly can be that, but if you want more, it's there in the module waiting to be taken advantage of. Roleplaying opportunities abound, from Hommlet, to Nulb to the Crater Ridge Mines and beyond. Not everything has to be fought to meet the parties goal of stopping the death of the world as they know it.

The Lightning Towers of the Inner Fane protect it from the air (plot device? Probably, but isn't all of D&D a plot device in one way or another?), and I personally find the Crater Ridge Mine area (the large dungeon that Silverthrone was taking about) a refreshing change from the old "level 1, level 2, level 3" type). It will show you that Chaotic Evil can definitely not play well with others...)

Monte's board is a great resource where you can read other stories of DM's campaigns, ask questions and clarifications and gather some great ideas.

My group has been going through this (with me running) for around 1 1/2 years now. We play every other weekend for around 8hrs and they're a little over 5/8th's of the way through, and having started around 4th level are into their 9th level (and seem to be having a blast), so I hope your group does too.

Hope to see you on Monte's board!

 

[Alejandro]

We spent almost a year with this module, and, looking back in hindsight, I'd advise placing the elemental altars far and wide around the Flanaess. Put the fire temple in White Plume Mountain, put the water temple in Saltmarsh, the earth temple in the Underdark, and the air temple somewhere windy. Sure, that would result in some travel, but it would alleviate the pain that comes from assaulting the CRM again and again. It would give your players a chance to see the countryside, give them some downtime when necessary, and give them time to talk a bit with each temple.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

I played with a group that recently finished the module and here are a few observations:

1) The whole thing is just too big to be run as is. Use it as part of a campaign, where the characters can do other things, so long as they keep coming back (if they don't, bad things happen). This can break up the monotony of what is, essentially, a huge slugfest.

2) Make the module dynamic! We spent something like a game year going through it, but very little changed from what was written in the book. In fact, the best curves the DM threw at us happened when he decided to change things, just for heck of it. More of that would have made the module more memorable.

3) Watch out for the challenge levels between areas. Going from the moathouse to Nulb almost got our party wiped out. We quickly learned to race through Nulb, before all those undead (whom we were too low level to defeat) could wipe us out. Similarly, the difference in challenges between the mines and the Outer Fane, and the Outer Fane and the Inner Fane is significant. Our party was trashing everything in the mine area, then were almost wiped out during our first foray into the Outer Fane. We only avoided TPK during our first combat with the First by running with our tails between our legs. Give the players a little warning, so at least they're not going in overconfident.

4) PC deaths can spiral out of control. As I said in point 3, the challenges can ramp up quickly. Once PC's start dying (thereby losing levels) they will have a difficult time surviving future encounters, leading to more deaths, more lost levels, etc. Our GM only solved the problem by providing other encounters (not in the module) of the appropriate level to allow us to build the characters back up to survivable levels. Those quests also served to give us a break from the module, which was appreciated.

5) We missed so much! Once we finished, I read through the module and can't believe how much was going on in Hommlet that we would have enjoyed, but after the first couple sessions, Hommlet was just a place to rest up and sell stuff. Also, we never did learn most of the back story. I recommend using the npc's to correct this - I personally spent most of the module wanting more info, but I just didn't know how to get it. Having Y'dey, Spugnoir, and others relate some of the old tales would have helped a lot. Having the villains offer more info (perhaps hoping to use the PC's to their advantage) is another viable option. Of course, having a paladin in our party didn't make that easy, but as others have said, lawful good doesn't mean lawful stupid.

Final note: The module has a lot of good stuff in it, just don't be afraid to change it to suit your players. Down with the Doomdreamers!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Beware the horridly done temple section. Do not know the proper name for it, but it is a large temple in a volcanoe or mountain and if your party has access to flight magic and a couple of knock spells, they can circumvent almost the entire adventure that way.

The main part of the dungeon is in a temple in a spire at the center of the volcanoe's extinct caluderra, and the dungeon is about getting access to it, something that any part with flight magic could do easily by flying across to it and thereby avoiding the dungeoun. Instead of opening the door in the dungeon, they could merely open it with magic instead.


[/B]

Well they do have towers that blast anything flying over the water with lightning bolts.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

He must have been an ubermunch, since from most accounts this adventure is a meatgrinder for four characters, let alone one.

Three PC's and two NPC's have died so far, the party is about half the way through.