The Scouring of Gate Pass: XP and number of players

[lud]

First post, just registered...

I am about to run The Scouring of Gate Pass for a group of family members and friends. It's been a long time since we played due to time and distance, but we have decided to give a try to virtual table gaming.

While doing my prep work, I figured the party will get the following XP from all the CRs I expect them to collect: (maybe they will surprise me and get more...)

Act I, II: 8400 XP
Act III: 1050 XP
Act IV and V : 5700 XP

At first I was planning to have only 3 players, but now it seems I will have either 5 or 6 (if the husband of my sister husband's sister's decide to play )

This will reduce my concern about some of the hard encounters but raises a few other questions:

Assuming T. is with them all the time, the net XP per player will be (5 players/ 6 players)

Act I, II: 1400 or 1200 (8400 / (5+1) or 8400 / (6+1))

Enough for lvl 2, fine up to now.

Act III, IV and V : 1125 or 965

In both cases, the players will not reach level 3 at the end of the adventure (2525/2165)

a. Will they still be in a position to handle the next adventure at level 2?
b. If this trend keeps on, will they be too low level in a few modules?
c. Are the adventures balanced for 4 players?

Any feedback is welcome!

 

[Crazy Eights]

I have 6 players in my group, so I'll try and give some advice, though as always, YMMV.

a) While they could probably handle adventure 2, some of the early on encounters, especially with Kazyk, could be really really bad if they haven't leveled up yet. To alleviate this somewhat, I ran a small side adventure that took place within the forest itself, which occurred immediately after the Ending Suffering encounter in adventure 2. This bumped them all up to level 3, and while subsequent fights were still tough, they weren't outright TPK-style lethal. I did this sort of thing with adventures 3 and 4, also. These little asides are never much, but they just bump the party back in line with the expected levels for each adventure.

b) It may seem like that would be a problem, but really I haven't noticed it having much effect. I'm just about done with adventure 4, which admittably isn't that much farther along, but my players haven't ever complained about being under leveled.

c) I can't say for sure, but my guess would be that the adventures were written, like many 3.X adventures, to be balanced for 4 players. I can't say that I've had to change too much in each encounter, even with 6 players. Every so often, I give the opponents a small bump here or there, mostly because it seems the vast majority of enemies have low hp and a very low AC. This lets the orc barbarian in my group go hackfest crazy with his great axe and power attack.

Sorry I got long winded there. Basically, I wouldn't worry too much about your players levels, but if you are, just give them something small to do that would have a CR equal to your average party level, or maybe average party level +1.

Good luck, and I hope your players enjoy the adventures, I know mine have so far!
~CE

 

[RangerWickett]

The adventures are designed for a group of four players, though how hard it is depends highly on how powerful the PCs are (i.e., how optimized their builds are, in Rules forum parlance). However, especially at early levels, I would be wary of having the party be short a level.

I personally loathe 3rd edition D&D before about 4th level, at least the aspect of it that a single hit can kill you (I also hate a lot of high-level magic for the same reason). I think it's bad narratively if half the time the hero runs into battle and is cut down before he gets to do anything.

So I'd recommend going with Crazy Eights's suggestion of adding an encounter, or maybe just give them a bonus level (for roleplaying XP), or perhaps house rule them to have some extra hit points (like how the new Star Wars system gives you triple HP at 1st level).

As for low ACs and hps, I was going by the rules for determining the CRs of foes, in which a 5th level NPC is supposed to be CR 5. But really, a 5th level NPC usually isn't as dangerous as a CR 5 monster, and since this is a war the majority of foes are people, not monsters. In later adventures we realized the difference, and found ways to work in more monsters, hopefully without ruining the sense that you're in a war.

(Husband of the sister's husband's sister? Dude, gamers are rare enough as is. We need to start breeding outside of the hobby. Spread the gamer genes.)

 

[RangerWickett]

Oh, also, if you're playing online, you might want to talk to a poster who goes by Takasi. He uses a program called MapTool which apparently is great for running games online.

 

[lud]

Thank you both for the feedback!

I am now planning to split the group in 2 before the start of the adventure, and have for each half a small combat encounter and a non-combat one.

So when they come back together for Act 1, I hope to get from this:

1. More XP!

2. Create an oppotunity for some of them to get familiars with 3.5 mechanics (It's been a while since some of the players have done paper RPG, for those, their last game was with EarthDawn a few years ago, side note : great system, no low HP problems at low circle, but it comes with it's own issues...)

3. Learn how to use the Virtual Table and VOIP software. We are also going to use MapTool. It looks very nice from the pre-test I have done with one of the player.

4. Get involved in the events: One group will have to help a drunk mage confronted by bounty hunters, the other something related to the pending attack...

A note for EN Publishing concerning MapTool (and other VT software probably):

The good:

Thank you very much for providing bitmap of the battle maps!!!

The "it could be improved"

When you import the battle maps in the software you can easily adjust the build in grid to match the one on the drawing. This way when you move minis around they stick to the grid.

BUT this works well ONLY if the number of pixel for each square is a round number. Otherwise you need to scale the map with a drawing software before you use it in the VT.

If I remember correctly the Apple Pub map was something like 38.3 pixel per square...a nice 40 or even 50 would have been great!

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

A note coming from my campaign that has had 5 to 7 players at the table so far...

Instead of worrying about counting up the XP I handwaved that away and level the entire group at the appropriate time, usually keeping them all 1 level under what the module suggests. This so far has balanced out okay and not run the risk of a TPK...although a couple combats were pure cakewalks.

I also use Pirate-Cats alternate XP rules where characters gain action points at each level that can be traded in for XP for spells/magic items.. or used like normal action points.

If you were doing a face-to-face game, I would suggest Gamer Printshop... I don't {yet} do the virtual table-top stuff.