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Author
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Comment
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Boden Blagden
Pie
(10/30/02 8:24:38 am)
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Changes to the module.
I have a group that has 7 PCs and we are starting on the beginning of the module this week. I think all of them will be 4th level by the end of tonight. I was wondering if y'all think that I should up the challenges for them. I have been thinking about it and the encounters are made for 4 4th level PCs if I am correct. So should I up the number of combatants or make the combatants and such more powerful.
Thanks,
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Surfal2001
Pie
(10/30/02 8:48:28 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
I would strongly advise against significant changes. Lots of other folks will probably chime in, including some that have done this and have first-hand experience, but here's my $0.02.
1) The 3E xp/cr system is designed to balance things out like this. Initially, your group will be more powerful than the module is designed for, but they will gain proportionatly less XP and will sync into a more reasonable challenge level.
2) The time when they'll most overmatch the module is in the fight with Utreshimon. Some of them will still likely die. He's just nasty with that hover attack. Use 2-4 points of power attack against softer targets and they'll fall quick. The rest of the MH is not supposed to be that hard anyway, so the ease with which they blow through it shouldn't bother you. The MH dungeon is about hints and clues about the greater plot, not about combat (though there's plenty of that).
3) If you do decide to up the power level, you're in for an awful lot of work. This is a campaign, not an adventure. The RttToEE yahoogroup has resources that should aid you, including a pumped-up CRM.
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Dragon Mage 1E
Pie
(10/30/02 8:52:22 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
I am running it with 7 (sometimes  PC's. I have not made many changes. I just use the monsters and villians with intellegence. They often work together within their groups setting traps and ambushes.
I like having a larger party. It allows me to try as hard as I can to kill them. So far I have had only 5 deaths, and we are in the Outer fane. I have not powered up anyone (i have powered down a few) and it has worked fine. The only changes I have made were to make it personal for the party members.
"What the curtains?" |
SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/30/02 8:59:22 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
I agree with the others. My group has an average of 6-8 PCs in it at any given time. At first I started to make the major encounters more difficult...the obelisk room in the MH, the hidden cultists in Hommlet, Vranthis, etc., ...but it turned out to be more of a pain to do that.
As has already been said...the power level and XP is a self correcting system. They may be more powerful at first and wade through the moathouse and the beginnings of the CRM, but as they do so they will level slower, the monetary rewards per character will be less, and things will even out. My players are all 8th-10th level now, have just hit the Earth Bridge complex and I nearly killed 3/4 of them there. No one died due to some lucky circumstances for them, but they are beginning to encounter much tougher resistance.
I'd say go with it as written. Just play the bad guys to their best and don't hold too much back.
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(10/30/02 9:16:17 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
I'd agree with the stuff thats gone before, 3E self corrects very well of over the course of the campaign, what it does mean though is that you can have some real fun with Big U and Festrath.
The moathouse is fairly easy with the notable exception of these two, played to their full potential they can both give your party a huge "welcome to 3E" (as well as being great fun to DM)
The howls of protest from my group when I first put Big U into hover mode and gutted the fighter who couldn't see him!!
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Andorax
Orc
(10/30/02 10:09:49 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
Geez...I'm not used to following behind others who said this. The first few times this point came up, I was the sole crusader for "leave it be" amidst a chorus of recommendations for upscaling it.
Yes, the XP system is self-correcting. Yes, they'll have a marginally easier time, early on. No biggie. It all works out down the road, especially if you have players lose interest (let's face it, a year's worth of gaming is a big commitment).
One other bit of advice from an old thread on this topic, which does have some validity. Don't throw more beasties or stronger beasties...just throw smarter ones. Use nastier tactics, more devious planning, and so forth.
Or take the popular shortcut to more power w/o more XP...award max hps to the baddies.
Where do you get these better, nastier tactics? Why...here. "My group is heading into the west gate, what do I do" as a thread title will get you overwhelmed with good ideas.
I'm wondering if being a DM that's active on this board adds +1CR to your encounters, just on general principle 
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
SSShadowcat7
Pie
(10/30/02 8:51:07 pm)
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Re: Changes to the module.
Quote:
I'm wondering if being a DM that's active on this board adds +1CR to your encounters, just on general principle?
I know it's made life much more miserable for my players. Thanks everyone! 
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Siobharek 
Orc
(10/31/02 12:35:15 am)
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Re: Changes to the module.
If you run with CR-dependant XP, don't change a thing. But you might want to prepare your players for a fairly long period of little or no xp.
But why not remove Hommlet and the Moat House? Youy could replace it with the Speaker in Dreams and The Cradle of Madness (from Dungeon #84), which are a bit more challenging, it memory serves me. Those two adventures have plenty of opportunities for leaving the clues needed to get the PCs to Rastor.
Of course, if your players have previous experience of Hommlet and the Moathouse, you should stick with them and then try to move your players through it as quickly as possible.
One thing: The group will be quite strong and any survivors are bound to report that. Might make The Powers the Be take notice a little sooner...
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
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