We finished our D&D 3e campaign

[S'mon]

For me the prediction failed - we started around 6th and played ca twice every 3 weeks and with roleplay & story bonuses I gave out around 50% more XP than standard (though this varied a lot), but the group hit a bad patch around 12th level where PCs were dying all the time, often un-ressable. They spent at least a year without significant level advancement - a PC who had retired at 13th when his player left in May 2003 after a year's play from 6th, and was the highest level then, was probably still higher level than the in-play PCs a year later in May 2004!
So the projected advancement rate doesn't take account of the effects of PC death, especially in the killer levels around 10-13.

 

[hong]

Queen of Lies is a basic drow adventure. The Drow raided the surface world. The good guys have to go retaliate. Some drow faction politics that the party may or may not see. Queen of Lies is not set in any particular campaign world.

Not sure how to compare The Harrowing and City of the Spider Queen. I remember COSQ vividly and the original G1-3D1-3Q1, but don't remember the Harrowing.

The Harrowing is a 15th level adventure in Dungeon 84, by Monte Cook. A drow sorceress tries to overthrow Lolth, and the PCs have to stop her. IIRC it's not actually that hard, because it was one of the first high-level modules for 3E and the writers didn't know yet what would be a good challenge for the PCs. The arachnemancer PrC in the module, for instance, has its own spell progression rather than continuing that of an existing base class, so the BBEG ends up as a 17th level caster who can only cast 4th level spells.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

The Harrowing is a 15th level adventure in Dungeon 84, by Monte Cook. A drow sorceress tries to overthrow Lolth, and the PCs have to stop her. IIRC it's not actually that hard, because it was one of the first high-level modules for 3E and the writers didn't know yet what would be a good challenge for the PCs. The arachnemancer PrC in the module, for instance, has its own spell progression rather than continuing that of an existing base class, so the BBEG ends up as a 17th level caster who can only cast 4th level spells.

Heh. Yeah, I am definitely not using it straight from the source. There are modifications, as there are with most adventures that I use.

DM

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

When 3rd Edition first came out it was said that the average campaign would last a year and that players ought to be able to bring their characters from 1st up through 20th level within that timeframe. This assumed, according to what I remember reading, a weekly session of about four hours, with four players of recommended strength facing challenges appropriate to their level, according to the CR system.

What I've gleaned from these boards is that the prediction has failed. Is the rate of advancement unpredictable, or is it more to the point that DMs all dole out experience at different rates, and might ignore the "recommended" level of challenge (25% of resources per encounter).

Well, you gotta remember that for about levels 1-10 I had more than the standard number of PCs. (The game started with 7 PCs, and ended with 4 PCs) That would slow down the experience gained since the XP is split more ways. More players also mean more roleplay/interaction time, which would also tend to reduce time spent in encounters.

Ostenibly we played 4 hours a week, but what with people showing up late and so forth, we really only played 3 hours a week. I also ran a few adventures that were well below the party's level, but without any adjustments so they did not gain as much XP for those. Then as someone else mentioned, there's PC deaths (which didn't slow them down as much since I pretty much let them use True Res.), which cost them significant gold, after which they got even more cautious since they knew they were underpowered with respect to the standard.

One of the players predicted that I'd soon start giving all monsters max hp, but I never felt like I had to resort to that to give them a challenge (though towards the end, even the dragons had Mantle of Egregious Might on since the PCs had them too!)

 

[Nathal]

Well, you gotta remember that for about levels 1-10 I had more than the standard number of PCs. (The game started with 7 PCs, and ended with 4 PCs) That would slow down the experience gained since the XP is split more ways. More players also mean more roleplay/interaction time, which would also tend to reduce time spent in encounters.

Ostenibly we played 4 hours a week, but what with people showing up late and so forth, we really only played 3 hours a week. I also ran a few adventures that were well below the party's level, but without any adjustments so they did not gain as much XP for those. Then as someone else mentioned, there's PC deaths (which didn't slow them down as much since I pretty much let them use True Res.), which cost them significant gold, after which they got even more cautious since they knew they were underpowered with respect to the standard.

One of the players predicted that I'd soon start giving all monsters max hp, but I never felt like I had to resort to that to give them a challenge (though towards the end, even the dragons had Mantle of Egregious Might on since the PCs had them too!)

Sounds like a fun campaign. I like hearing the stories of people who played a character from 1st to 20th or above in 3.5 in general. It's an experience I've never had, in part because I was the DM most of the time, and otherwise because I switched game systems too often. I think the best I did was to get a character to 11th level in 2nd Edition AD&D. There is something exciting about bringing one character all the way to the top. That is, after all, one of the main attractions of class and level systems.

 

[Duo Maxwell]

Wow, sounds like you guys had a blast, despite everything that's happened to your group. I hope to have such epic experiences with my Greyhawk 3.5 Lost Tombs campaign (The Star Cairns, Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad, and the Doomgrinder) and continue on with the Slavers module (all converted to v3.5 of course).

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Sounds like a fun campaign. I like hearing the stories of people who played a character from 1st to 20th or above in 3.5 in general. It's an experience I've never had, in part because I was the DM most of the time, and otherwise because I switched game systems too often. I think the best I did was to get a character to 11th level in 2nd Edition AD&D. There is something exciting about bringing one character all the way to the top. That is, after all, one of the main attractions of class and level systems.

To a large extent, that's what kept me going, despite the group breaking up. I really wanted to experience every level of D&D. As a DM, things also got interesting since I kept having to learn new strategies and new things about the game once we got into the 11th level because I never saw games at that level when I was a kid.