Post/Author/DateTime	Post
dvnielsen 02-12-04, 04:52 AM	Hi all. I know that this question have been discussed before, but I would really like your input on this little problem: The last time I had a real campaign going was 2nd Edition AD&D. Now I'm hopeless behind in what happened in the realms. My Idea is therefore to continue the timeline right after the time of troubles. Does anyone have any good suggestions as how to start off the campaign (any adventures you find paticularly good, any dungeon magazine references?) do any of you have a homemade adventure (or just an adventure outline). Where should the campaign start? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Yours faithfully Daniel Nielsen Denmark.
Mystery Man 02-12-04, 06:54 AM	Where should the campaign start? At the beginning of course. :D Start with what you know, so if ToT works for you go for it. Start at level one so everyone becomes familiar with the rules. Do not use computer programs, its a horrible way to learn how to play 3E. When my first group started last year we used etools and no one knew what they were doing. I threw the computer program out the window and had them update thier character sheets by hand before play started. It took some time but eventually everyone got the hang of it. As far as campaigns go, you could always try that good 'ol standby, dungeon mag #87. :)
gullecram 02-12-04, 07:26 AM	I started playing a month ago, after a break of around a year. So naturally I do not know everything that has changed game and story wise in Fearun, so it forces me to keep it small for the begining, and I am really happy for that. Right now, my group of 6 players are all first level players, and we played a introductory adventure (the Burning Plague), just to get our feets on the road again, and already there are thing beginning to develop naturally: Our Wizards seems to have a fasination about controlling time, and our party does not have a cleric, and so on. Sometimes it is best to just let things come naturally, it workes for me, and sometimes the players make a great Campaign plot or hook by themselves. Right now, in the end of the first adventure, our rogue wanted to loot some bodies, so that was my opportunity to hook my Campaign into the group: He found a strange, roundly shaped, Bronze amulet that dispayed a bleeding mouth. This turned out to be a Magic, Cursed Holy Symbol of Gruumsh, and since the party did not want to just 'throw it away', they are now 'hooked' to it, and must find a way to get rid of it....E.g. An Evil Orc Cleric or Shaman is only able to destroy it.. Meanwhile, I have my party roll for WIS saves every day, and depending on the result, one or 2 things might happen: The PC holding the Holy Symbol suddenly finds out it might not be so evil afterall, e.g. the 'alignment' of the Symbol changes in the mind of the pc, or the Weight of the Holy symbol gets heavier and heavier by the day, and since I let them Roll 3d6 for stats, that will lead to another problem very soon.. I AM NOT SARCASTIC! :D Now the campaign more or less runs itself, while the only thing I have to do is guide the PC's towards a new adventure or plot in my campaign. Gullecram.
Lashan 02-12-04, 08:26 AM	I would say that it is best to just run things after the ToT. There is really nothing stopping you from playing in whatever time frame you want. Personally, I play in 1340 DR, which is before even the old Grey Boxed set. If the campaign goes on long enough, I will have the players play through all of that. You are looking for adventures to play? There are a lot of things, if you are willing to do some work on it. For one, you can always convert the old 1E and 2E adventues into 3.5E. If you are not so keen on the rules, you can look online for conversion websites. If you cannot find that and don't want to go through the effort, there are other ways. WOTC came out with their ADVENTURE PATH series of modules. That is the only 3E modules that have come out for DnD (besides the Spider Queen one). It starts with a 1st lvl adventure and continues up until 20, I believe. While it is not set in the FR, you can easily change the setting and a few of the details to make it fit in the FR. There have been threads on this board about where to place the adventures. You can even add in more plot around what is already there to make it more personal, too. There is also an Adventure Path series of modules in Dungeon magazine. They are not set in FR, but with the Greyhawk gods. Still, there are threads on this board (and you can start a new one) about how to change that great series into the FR setting. It is a good series. You would have to back order several issues, but that's no so bad. Dungeon has had other FR adventues, including a 1st lvl one set in the Dalelands. That's at least a place to start. There are other good adventures in Dungeon that can easily be converted over to FR. Hope that helps.
Mystery Man 02-12-04, 08:50 AM	Speaking of conversions I keep forgetting... Enworld has converted The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (http://www.enworld.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=144&ttitle=Haunted_Halls_of_Eveningstar_(FRQ 1)) and if you don't have the hardcopy you can buy the PDF for under 5 bucks at RPGnow.
The_Declaration 02-12-04, 09:41 AM	Hi Dan, I'm actually exactly in the same situation as you: never touched AD&D for 8 years now, I bought D&D3.5 and FO setting book last week and i have to get started somehow. I for sure always play homemade campaigns and adventures. I like it better this way for a RPG not too difficult to understand and manage. When i play a new game, i always start small. Always. Not too many NPCs, not too many spells, not too many rules. Just to get confident in my knowledge of the game. I asked my players what classes/races they wanna play: of course if everyone wants an elve wizard, I'll do the whole stuff totally different than if they all want a human ranger or druid. I asked them as well what kind of adventures they were interested in (Quest of magic, war, politics,...). And what kind of setting or atmosphere they prefer: viking/oriental/european/forest/wild... I think we'll spend a lot of time to define the history of each PC, and the reason they are gathered in the same place, the circumstances of their meeting, their personal goals,... The first adventure will probably takes place in a small town, with let's say an identified threat (forgotten ruin, monster in the dark, a bunch of guys bull******** around,...), a possible alliance with a weird NPC. Something simple and small. Then we'll get on tracks and the rhythm will increase...
Derulbaskul 02-14-04, 08:00 PM	Here's a quick outline using published material: 1. Start with Dungeon 87, Raiders of Galath's Roost, but have the Zhentarim battling invaders in their fortress, members of the Cult of the Dragon led by drow clerics of Kiaransalee. Throw in some hooks and links to... 2. Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor with the drow clerics of Kiaransalee (and their Cult of the Dragon allies) being behind the plot. This then leads to... 3. City of the Spider Queen. OK, here are the problems with this suggestion: 1. You will need to do some work: - additional encounters need to be created to advance the PCs to the appropriate levels; - the backstory may need some altering to ensure it all flows smoothly; and - you will have to pay careful attention to the clues that are discovered to ensure that the campaign flows logically. 2. PoR: AoMD has some problems as a module. While the cover says it was written by SKR, actually he came in at the last minute to attempt to fix the first writer's errors. He did a reasonable job but you do need to review the module carefully before play and make adjustments. 3. CotSQ is an enormous adventure. Be prepared to do A LOT of preparation. If oyu're looking for an epic conclusion, I would have the principal villain perform her Great Revenance ritual in the Demonweb Pits near the slumbering Lolth... and then you can use an adapted version of Dungeon 84, The Harrowing, to conclude the campaign. Does this outline work? Yep, it's one of the campaigns I'm running and we're a few sessions from the Demonweb Pits.
dvnielsen 02-15-04, 09:50 AM	Thank you all for your contributions. I'll let you all know how it goes ;-) Yours faithfully Daniel Nielsen Denmark
druid berrymore 02-15-04, 01:44 PM	The cool thing about starting again is that you could use all the adventures published by TSR and WoTC. Start with the 1e stuff, and move all the way to City of the Spider Queen. That'll keep ya busy for a while.
kistrup 02-16-04, 04:56 AM	Hi I would recommend the FrCS and PtGFr (comming next month) You could try the Cliffhangers on the Wiz-page. Lot's of hooks in there.