Sunless Citadel

[Rabbi Shlomo]

Shalom,

I'm rather new to 3rd Edition and after buying the 3 core books, I've decided that I am too uncreative to write my own adventures just yet ( And the lack of time ), so I also went out and picked up Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury and Dungeon #92.

Wedsday I'm starting the campiagn with the Sunless Citadel, I'd love to here anyone's stories when they ran through this adventure as eith er a DM or a player. Any tips to a newbie DM would also be appreciated.




Todah!

 

[WizarDru]

Rabbi,

welcome to ENWorld. I think you'll find that the Story Hour has quite a few stories that feature the Sunless Citadel prominently. I might point out 'my' story hour, which I actually DM, and is written by one of my players. It will give you a player's view of the module. I would recommend Wulf's Story Hour and mine for examples of Forge of Fury fun.

WizarDru's Story Hour (a.ka. the Savage Sword of Meepo)

Wulf's Story Hour (the creme de la creme of story hours)

I'm sure there will others that will point out other story hours I've missed.

Again, welcome, and good gaming to you.

 

[Theuderic]

Welcome to En World! Don't worry about running the game. You will do fine. Thousands of people no doubt are doing or have done exactly what you are doing now. You might want to ask Gary Gygax for some advice. He has a thread on this site and I beleive he is still answering questions. If you don't know who Mr. Gygax is, then let me tell you. He is the man who created D&D! What a better person to ask than him? Just my advice to you....

 

[Krug]

You might also want to take a look at The Wizard's Amulet, available as a download from Necromancer Games. Lots of tips and guide included with the module.

 

[Gizzard]

Also, take a look at the reviews on the Review Page. There are tidbits of experiences and things to look out for scattered through the more useful reviews. Dont be discouraged by the people who said "I expected so much more from this module", its a perfect dungeon crawl intro to 3E -- exactly what it promises to be. Our group had a blast with it.

Things to look out for:
-- spoilers --
-- spoilers --
-- SPOILERS --

Make sure you define the way your world works with respect to "evil" humanoids. Should the party kill all kobolds and goblins on sight because they are "evil"? Or can you make deals and agreements with them? Definitely, the latter is more fun and the setup text (about the fruit) hints at the idea that Goblins and people can co-exist to some degree.

Some of the side encounters are very tough. Be alert if your players wander into these areas. Make sure you understand how these monsters work also.

The same goes for the final villian. His lair is set up to give him several advantages in combat (or in escape if need be), so make sure you know how to use him to his maximum effect. Its your option how tough to play him, but you dont want him to be a walkover.

Its also best if you can accentuate the hints that are given about what he is up to before the final battle is joined. He wants to give a "Before I kill you Mr. Bond..." sort of villian speech at the final battle, but there isn't much reason for beginning parties to think they should listen rather than just attack. And the module is much cooler once you discover they "why"; you want to make sure your party understands what happened in order to make the best gaming experience.

 

[ced1106]

Well, I reviewed Orcfest, an introductory adventure written by the guy who wrote the Epic Level Handbook, and the review is on RPGnet. Lotsa DM tips. You can also find tips on the web, so I hear.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

 

[d20Dwarf]

What I thought was great about this module was the fact that most of the encounters are separated, which gives new players a chance to get to know the ropes before heading off into a really deadly dungeon. The roleplaying elements are a bit contrived, but again that is good for new players.


********SPOILER ALERT************





********REALLY HERE IT COMES!!!************


The experienced players I ran this for actually subdued the dragon and brought it back to the kobold's lair. They dumped it in its old, broken cage, and retreated to the empty room across from the well and slept. Of course when there were dead kobolds everywhere, no sign of Calcryx, and one really pissed off queen. The queen had used the feather token to set up a barricade at the door, where here remaining forces peppered the PCs with crossbow bolts as they tried to squeeze through. Pretty funny, actually.

 

[jasper]

If you want to know about forge read the adventures of Darryl the Dragon Slayer in Story hour. It will be buried deep.

 

[mkletch]

We had a mixed group of experienced and newbie players, with a 1st-timer DM, and we had a lot of fun in the Sunless Citadel. We went on to do the whole adventure path series (all the modules from WotC) except for the last, which we start this Sunday. It is a perfect series for a new DM, because it expands your horizons with each module (different rules options to use, outdoor adventures, sidebars to explain how things fit together, event-based adventures, etc.). Best of luck.

-Fletch!

 

[S'mon]

Welcome to En World! Don't worry about running the game. You will do fine. Thousands of people no doubt are doing or have done exactly what you are doing now. You might want to ask Gary Gygax for some advice. He has a thread on this site and I beleive he is still answering questions. If you don't know who Mr. Gygax is, then let me tell you. He is the man who created D&D! What a better person to ask than him? Just my advice to you....

Damn Trolls...

Gary (Col_Playdoh) is around, but don't go quizzing him on the intricacies of 3e rules & scenarios - he won't like it!