Wheel of Time -

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I've owned the WoT book for some time now - practically since it first came out. In the day, I used to be very keen on the books - only to be continually dissapointed by the later ones. But if there was one thing I always admired (And just knew I'd never play) was that absolutely excellent adventure at the back of the book.

And then one day, I made an hour trip to see a hospitalised friend. We'd organised to play some game or another but I found all my Cthulu stuff had been misplaced. (You would be suprised at how good Cthulu can be in the middle of a hospital.) And so... all other adventures misplaced, nothing else ready..

I blew the dust from my WoT book. So the three of us played. Two of us (Hospitalised and myself) had read and once enjoyed the books - but no more. The third player had only heard of them. And we had a blast. The combats were fast, deadly and dangerous. The Aiel and Ogier quickly made a friendship forged in slaying shadowspawn so far from the blight.

And by god, these guys actually bought the Prophecies of the Dragon campaign book for me to DM it. Rumour makes its way around and a full party eventuates. Soon enough, we are playing. The players of their own violition begin to read the books.


Anyone else played WoT? I was very impressed with the adventure at the back of the book. For the pathetic coverage WOTC put on this, it might have been something. Does anyone have any WoT campaigns or adventures, or am I the second person on earth to actually play this game?

 

[Rystil Arden]

I did an adventure once. The party members entered the Aiel Waste, where they were attacked by some Shaido. Eventually, they snuck into the Shaido Clanhold and murdered Suladric, the Clan Chief (you know, Sevanna's first husband who had just died in the books so Couladin wanted to replace him, etc). Then they travelled to Tanchico and smashed the female Choeden Kal access key before the Forsaken could get their hands on it (the one that was broken when the character's encountered it in the series; Egwene reached out to it broken in TAR and got zapped). It was pretty fun, but eventually we lost the player of the quiet Malkieri warder who unbeknowst to anyone was actually holding the party together. Go figure

 

[drothgery]

(the mods will probably slide this over to the d20 forum, but mentioning WoT is a 'summon drothgery' spell)...

The mega-adventure is a pretty mixed bag (a lot of the NPC writeups have mechanical problems, some encounters are near-certain TPKs if you've got a standard party at the levels the module is written for, and there are some plot and timing issues with the interweaving of the novels and the modules), but except for the "Winter of Discontent" chapter, it's not all that bad, and I'm running my PBP d20 WoT game (see my signature) through a highly modified version.

Probably the best d20 WoT resource online is at
http://www.callofthehorn.com/forums/index.php

 

[Dagger75]

My small group tried to get a campaign going. All 4 of us had read the first 3 books and we all bought the rules. Out group started out as a group Hunting for the Horn. Never made it past the second game.

I personally liked the rules and like how Aes Sedia were made and used. I not a big fan of the books but would love to play a campaign in the WoT universe.

I never read the mini campiang adventure, I got a free copy of it because I filled out the costumer service card in the back of the book and sent it in

I think I will see if my new group will play a small game for WoT.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

We're playing Prophecies of the Dragon. A word of warning - it's not a well-written module. The various chapters of the adventure can be separated by months of time in the timeline of the novels but expect them to remain at static levels during this whole period (one chapter being written for the levels you're at after the chapter before it, for instance) and don't provide any link or motivation to get the PCs from one place to another. Several crucial plot challenges are virtually impossible to complete - I seem to recall a locked chest which the suggested party would find impossible to open and might never think to look for, but which contains information vital to advancing the plot - to say nothing of fights which are simply not survivable at the suggested levels.

Our DM has done a stellar job at patching the holes in the module, but even with his amazing efforts you can tell where it wears thin.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I noticed some of those mechanical issues - but thats alright, because I make stuff up on the fly anyway. What sort of got me was the waygate happens, and then basically I'm almost at the end of book two.

Thats some serious timing trouble.

Levels all over the joint, due to different party members joining and so forth. After reading through, I assume they'll be level 7ish by the time they get to Jara-Copan.

But then, they are happy to have Trollocs not something a single character can take a dozen of with one hand tied behind the back. After a almost-TPK in the very first adventure (That bit with the trollocs) they hate and fear even trollocs in equal amounts. And did they run like buggery from that Fade .

Regardless, they're just about up in Falme with Maynard the warder, trying to find Megda Sedai. I assume those big differences in power assume you'll have a channeler or two - I've one female wilder in the party, and the rules for channeling are a bit loose so it's odd.

They like it so far - very much, in fact. Any suggestions about how to change Winter of Discontent?

Thanks, er, m..something..guy! Gotta hate the fact that Edit doesn't let you see the previous posts. I remember thinking that part was a bit odd, as well. Maybe I'll write a word document about that whole chapter, as it's a bit "Huh? We do what? Evil Aes Sedai? What?" from what I can tell - and with little motivation to do much about it.

 

[drothgery]

I just noticed that my signature here doesn't have a link to my PBP WoT game -- it's at http://groups.msn.com/WoTAdventure .

Anyway, what I did/am doing in that game is skipping "Winter of Discontent" entirely. I had the PCs (which included a pair of Accepted) return to Tar Valon after Falme (via Portal Stone and an NPC Aes Sedai), and I'm going to have some down-time in game ("a few months pass and nothing interesting happens") before hooking them up with act two of "The Two Rivers".

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

After re-reading it, that whole Winter of discontent thing can happen in the background. With a bit of luck they'll swear for the Dragon Reborn at Falme with everyone else. A few months pass is a good thing - lets the other character properly train herself to Wilder/Initiate.

Possibility: Nadira Sedai wants you to find out about those two other Sedai. Carridin is working with them, but what they are doing has nothing to do with killing the Panarch. Instead, they are trying to hide Mazrim Taim despite the Panarch's guards being suspicious.

Enter Tanchico, Talk to Nadira Sedai. Spend cash. Investigate the two Sedai for Nadira Sedai. Enter Carridin into the picture - the two Sedai are drawing upon his resources to keep Taim hidden, moving him daily (He's in Tanchico, held by Dark Sedai for conditioning before they reveal their Red Ajah and his capture) - but the characters have no idea that it's a person, only "The weapon against the Dragon" or somesuch.

Mind you, two of my characters swore to "Kill that ****ing traitorous B****** Darkfriend" (Carridin) in no uncertain tones. I'll hint that there's something else going on, but they'll follow Carridin's servants to Taim, do whatever (I won't give him those higher level abilities I think.)

Because their main focus will be the two Sedai, they'll have good reason to investigate them. Carridin is just a side annoyance to them - and Weapon to use against the Dragon is something anethema for Dragonsworn like these guys will be.

Hopefully, this'll turn Winter of Discontent into a intrigue-laden Tanchico with cloaks, daggers, and a hidden Darkfriend Agenda. It'll give them a good reason to free Taim, a decent reason to investigate the two Sedai to begin with, and a burning ambition to foil Carridin always helps. And they should of heard of Jara-Copan by now.


Phew. Make some sense? Good, bad?

 

[carolina]

WOT is a great rpg book, and best of all, the adventures move at a faster pace than the glacial pace that the books currently are in. A lot of the books fans think the game is flawed because the major NPCs' stats really don't reflect their abilities in the books. But I think for a great four-hour game session, the action can't be beat.

 

[drothgery]

The NPC writeups in the rulebook are a bit messed up, and often in illogical ways (Moiraine, as written, can probably beat Rand, as written, in One Power duel nine times out of ten). And I think they made some conceptual mistakes in creating the core classes (which I've tried to remedy with house rules). But I still think the system's pretty good, and if I were able to plan one future project at WotC, it would be a revised edition of d20 WoT, set to launch with the paperback of the last novel...