Adv.- Lost City (B4) anyone got some tips?? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adv.- Lost City (B4) anyone got some tips?? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
TaliaWinters
08-23-04, 07:26 AM Hi, I was starting to play an old B4 Adventure from 1E D&D:
Lost City.
I found a 3.0E update on the web so that I had to do less work.
Well my players started in this adventure with level 3 and at the moment they are about 5. And will get about 6 to 8 (or 10 if they complete all).

Background (for those how dont know the adv.):
The players are in a pyramid deep in the dessert. A lost civilisation build this pyramid and there rest the kings & queens, the wealthy ones and some others, deep below the sand ther is the city of this civilisation.

They are in level 4 (of 8) and carry about 20.000 gold-/silver-/coopercoins with them. I pointed out to them, that they roll huge bags and barrels through the 3x3m wide dungeonfloors, while adventuring.

About the loot:
- about 300.000 Gold ( 150.000 in Coins) in this adventure :mymy:

I think I have to do some DMing-stuff to put the kibosh on it. The Problem is, to get with the whole money back to the civilisation, but I think my players will get a way through that problem.

my QUESTION:
1Q: Is this normal to old adv. , that they are so wealthy after this one?
2Q: Anyone DM'ed it before (just some jears ago ^^) and have some tips for me?
3Q: Some tips to the money problem?
TaliaWinters
09-21-04, 06:53 PM one month later no post :( , so I changed a bit to make it easier to answer.
DougC
09-21-04, 07:33 PM 1Q: Is this normal to old adv. , that they are so wealthy after this one? In the earlier versions of D&D, XP was awarded for treasure in addition to monsters defeated, so yeah, this was probably pretty typical (although it's been a long time since I've even seen a 1e adventure).

Sorry that I can't help you with your second question, but I've never played that adventure.

3Q: Some tips to the money problem? Personally, I'd find a way to get the party some Bags of Holding or Handy Haversacks. I'd make sure they had to work for them, though.

Hope this helps in some way. :)
Polymorph
09-21-04, 08:18 PM Exchange the large gold treasures that still lie ahead of them with gems and jewelry of the same worth. A hand full of rare gems can be worth just as much as a a billion gold pieces ;)
PaladinSix
09-21-04, 08:44 PM When the loot gets too extensive to carry (which doesn't happen often in my campaigns), I encourage the players to stash it somewhere in or near the dungeon for later retrieval. Depending on how far away from civilization the pyramid is, the return trip (with wagons and pack animals) could become another adventure in itself. Of course, it may not be there when they get back.

And, yes, I think most 1st edition (and Basic) dungeons were written with the idea that one or two adventures were sufficient to make the PCs extremely wealthy and quite powerful. You should feel free to knock the treasure down to levels that are more in keeping with your campaign.
krichaiushii
09-21-04, 11:03 PM My impression of your post is that you are looking for a way to make the treasure less convienent to the PCs, while still allowing the total value to be there.

Consider converting the value of the future treasure into useful mundane or expensive awkward items. MW weapons and armor can make for some nice cash, as can well-made furniture of exotic materials. Fine art in the form of statues, tapestries, and paintings are both valuable and awkward - a tapestry or painting may actually be a form of map or other clue to a future storyline, too.

Or convert the treasure into one-shot magic items, and make sure that the opposition actually USE said items if possible.

The simplest way is to summarily cut the rest of the treasure given, though I suspect that player expectations are going to be a bit high after the first portion.
The Shaman
09-22-04, 12:01 AM Personally, I wouldn't change a thing: the image of the PCs rolling barrels of silver pieces down the halls of the dungeon thrills my twisted sense of humor no end. It also insures that none of the monsters are ever surprised...

Truth be told, being an ol' skool GM myself, I still make treasures somewhat "challenging" for the players as well - as krichaiushii described, treasures such as statues, tapestries, tuns of rare wine, bags of spices, and so on are a regular occurrence in my games, partly because the act of gathering and transporting the treasure and converting it into ready cash becomes an adventure in itself, and partly because if the players are impatient or lazy, they can really shaft themselves.

My advice to you? Go with it, and relive the adventure of 1e D&D - and if you're concerned about them getting too much wealth, convert gold to silver, silver to copper, and so on to bring the value down.
TaliaWinters
09-22-04, 07:08 AM My impression of your post is that you are looking for a way to make the treasure less convienent to the PCs, while still allowing the total value to be there.My advice to you? Go with it, and relive the adventure of 1e D&D - and if you're concerned about them getting too much wealth, convert gold to silver, silver to copper, and so on to bring the value down.
Thats a good point, y I didn't feel to get it myself? I thought (cause of virgin D&D-DMing) "I should let the adventrue how it is written", but it looks strange as I knew more and more about the rules. So I think I'll work it like this *g lower money and items in value of them.

"This room contains 10.000Gold..."
:mymy: "Uhh hjear, lets put em in ..."
"...in form of whine!" :embarrass
" :weep: "

the return trip (with wagons and pack animals) could become another adventure in itself. Of course, it may not be there when they get back.
This is what I thought, when I started this adventure. "Deep in the dessert with such a amount of money, ha! You'll never get this out there"
But at the end of this adventure the players will leave through a portal (going on to next adventure) so I need to reduce the amount of Gold. Next part of what I think is, when they depart, they won't have the time to get all the ressourcess with them. But else if they do (players are uncalculabe) they shouldn't have to much. :D

Ok thxs for answering at all (even I don't quote) it helped a lot.
krichaiushii
09-22-04, 09:05 AM A quick (and arguably underhanded) method to relieve the party of some treasure is to have something obviously more powerful than they guarding the portal.

If they want through, they must pay a toll equal to lots of gold - which the beast eats (which is WHY it wants the gold!).

Oh, another fun "valuable" option is artifacts from an ancient culture. A very limited market, but once you find a collector, you will likely be rolling in the dough. Ancient coins might be worth far more than face value to a coin collector (a numisatist, I believe they call themselves).

An alchemist's lab is very expensive, bulky, AND fragile. Have fun moving that around! The stuff in an alchemist's lab (tanglefoot bags, alchemist's fire, etc) is valuable, too.

The same can be said for a library. The only problem with libraries is that many PCs will want to know specific titles. Be prepared - there are a variety of book title generators out there. Maybe some of the books are extra special - first editions, signed copies, only copies, original manuscripts, special knowledge (bonus to Knowledge (specific topic) or Appraise (specific items) or Spellcraft (spells of a certain school)), not too mention the magical books one can find in the DMG.

As it is a lost city, perhaps some of the buildings still hold MW tools from different trades? Scalpels, wood cutting tools, stone carving tools, etc. Great value, limited PC use.

If you really want to inconvience the PCs, make sure that there are NO bags of holding, portable holes or the like to be found. If they want them, they will need to make them.
Thelandrach
09-22-04, 09:10 AM I don't think you should change a thing. If they get 150,000 coins in the dungeon, that's what they get. It's up to them to figure out how much of it to take back. If they leave behind piles of coins because they've got all their sacks stuffed full of gems, then that's the decision they make.

Parties in my campaign don't bother picking up copper or silver pieces until they've got a portable hole, and even then, only if they have a use for it (they found barrels filled with 50,000 copper pieces once and started melting it down and making copper garden gnomes using a mold they made from the wizard when he got turned to stone...).

Oh, and by "Lost City," do you mean "Lost City of Tsjocanth", or just "Lost City?"
TaliaWinters
09-22-04, 10:05 AM If they want through, they must pay a toll equal to lots of gold - which the beast eats (which is WHY it wants the gold!).
Hum that's an idea. The Portal works, but the folks are very angry that they steal all the gifts from their dead people. So they want something back (how much it is, we'll see).

How much Money and equipment, should a party have? (should it be similar to the NPCs shown in the DMG? Or more/less)

If you really want to inconvience the PCs, make sure that there are NO bags of holding, portable holes or the like to be found. If they want them, they will need to make them.
I'll give them no such equipment down there *g. I'm a nice guy but not terrible nice.

they found barrels filled with 50,000 copper pieces
höhöhö ... :) They got some simillar in this adventure, but less. about 3,000 SM and the barell dump. It took about 3h to pick em up and lay back in the barell. A BIG amusement ;)

Oh, and by "Lost City," do you mean "Lost City of Tsjocanth", or just "Lost City?"
I mean "The Lost City" from Tom Moldvay, an D&D 1E Aventure, No. B4 (Character level 1-3). From 1983 :D
krichaiushii
09-22-04, 10:47 AM It was the Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth (S4).

The DMG provides rough guidelines for recommended PC wealth levels, by level. Page 43 of the 3.0 DMG. Overall, its much greater than that recommended for NPCs.

Another way to reacquire PC treasure is to make them give it up willingly. Is it possible that the Lost City contains a spellcaster capable of manufacturing SOME magic items? If so, the PCs may take him up on it. His spells known are limited (best make him a wizard), so PCs may have to provide scrolls or spells if there is something specific they want.

Along the same lines, can healing be purchased?
Supercilious
09-22-04, 12:50 PM Make it gold-coated led... That would be VERY ironic.
TaliaWinters
09-23-04, 04:14 AM The DMG provides rough guidelines for recommended PC wealth levels, by level. Page 43 of the 3.0 DMG. Overall, its much greater than that recommended for NPCs.
jear I got it... I thougt that I'll stand near to this.

@healing
Hehe, VERY ironic. :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TaliaWinters 08-23-04, 07:26 AM	Hi, I was starting to play an old B4 Adventure from 1E D&D: Lost City. I found a 3.0E update on the web so that I had to do less work. Well my players started in this adventure with level 3 and at the moment they are about 5. And will get about 6 to 8 (or 10 if they complete all). Background (for those how dont know the adv.): The players are in a pyramid deep in the dessert. A lost civilisation build this pyramid and there rest the kings & queens, the wealthy ones and some others, deep below the sand ther is the city of this civilisation. They are in level 4 (of 8) and carry about 20.000 gold-/silver-/coopercoins with them. I pointed out to them, that they roll huge bags and barrels through the 3x3m wide dungeonfloors, while adventuring. About the loot: - about 300.000 Gold ( 150.000 in Coins) in this adventure :mymy: I think I have to do some DMing-stuff to put the kibosh on it. The Problem is, to get with the whole money back to the civilisation, but I think my players will get a way through that problem. my QUESTION: 1Q: Is this normal to old adv. , that they are so wealthy after this one? 2Q: Anyone DM'ed it before (just some jears ago ^^) and have some tips for me? 3Q: Some tips to the money problem?
TaliaWinters 09-21-04, 06:53 PM	one month later no post :( , so I changed a bit to make it easier to answer.
DougC 09-21-04, 07:33 PM	1Q: Is this normal to old adv. , that they are so wealthy after this one? In the earlier versions of D&D, XP was awarded for treasure in addition to monsters defeated, so yeah, this was probably pretty typical (although it's been a long time since I've even seen a 1e adventure). Sorry that I can't help you with your second question, but I've never played that adventure. 3Q: Some tips to the money problem? Personally, I'd find a way to get the party some Bags of Holding or Handy Haversacks. I'd make sure they had to work for them, though. Hope this helps in some way. :)
Polymorph 09-21-04, 08:18 PM	Exchange the large gold treasures that still lie ahead of them with gems and jewelry of the same worth. A hand full of rare gems can be worth just as much as a a billion gold pieces ;)
PaladinSix 09-21-04, 08:44 PM	When the loot gets too extensive to carry (which doesn't happen often in my campaigns), I encourage the players to stash it somewhere in or near the dungeon for later retrieval. Depending on how far away from civilization the pyramid is, the return trip (with wagons and pack animals) could become another adventure in itself. Of course, it may not be there when they get back. And, yes, I think most 1st edition (and Basic) dungeons were written with the idea that one or two adventures were sufficient to make the PCs extremely wealthy and quite powerful. You should feel free to knock the treasure down to levels that are more in keeping with your campaign.
krichaiushii 09-21-04, 11:03 PM	My impression of your post is that you are looking for a way to make the treasure less convienent to the PCs, while still allowing the total value to be there. Consider converting the value of the future treasure into useful mundane or expensive awkward items. MW weapons and armor can make for some nice cash, as can well-made furniture of exotic materials. Fine art in the form of statues, tapestries, and paintings are both valuable and awkward - a tapestry or painting may actually be a form of map or other clue to a future storyline, too. Or convert the treasure into one-shot magic items, and make sure that the opposition actually USE said items if possible. The simplest way is to summarily cut the rest of the treasure given, though I suspect that player expectations are going to be a bit high after the first portion.
The Shaman 09-22-04, 12:01 AM	Personally, I wouldn't change a thing: the image of the PCs rolling barrels of silver pieces down the halls of the dungeon thrills my twisted sense of humor no end. It also insures that none of the monsters are ever surprised... Truth be told, being an ol' skool GM myself, I still make treasures somewhat "challenging" for the players as well - as krichaiushii described, treasures such as statues, tapestries, tuns of rare wine, bags of spices, and so on are a regular occurrence in my games, partly because the act of gathering and transporting the treasure and converting it into ready cash becomes an adventure in itself, and partly because if the players are impatient or lazy, they can really shaft themselves. My advice to you? Go with it, and relive the adventure of 1e D&D - and if you're concerned about them getting too much wealth, convert gold to silver, silver to copper, and so on to bring the value down.
TaliaWinters 09-22-04, 07:08 AM	My impression of your post is that you are looking for a way to make the treasure less convienent to the PCs, while still allowing the total value to be there.My advice to you? Go with it, and relive the adventure of 1e D&D - and if you're concerned about them getting too much wealth, convert gold to silver, silver to copper, and so on to bring the value down. Thats a good point, y I didn't feel to get it myself? I thought (cause of virgin D&D-DMing) "I should let the adventrue how it is written", but it looks strange as I knew more and more about the rules. So I think I'll work it like this *g lower money and items in value of them. "This room contains 10.000Gold..." :mymy: "Uhh hjear, lets put em in ..." "...in form of whine!" :embarrass " :weep: " the return trip (with wagons and pack animals) could become another adventure in itself. Of course, it may not be there when they get back. This is what I thought, when I started this adventure. "Deep in the dessert with such a amount of money, ha! You'll never get this out there" But at the end of this adventure the players will leave through a portal (going on to next adventure) so I need to reduce the amount of Gold. Next part of what I think is, when they depart, they won't have the time to get all the ressourcess with them. But else if they do (players are uncalculabe) they shouldn't have to much. :D Ok thxs for answering at all (even I don't quote) it helped a lot.
krichaiushii 09-22-04, 09:05 AM	A quick (and arguably underhanded) method to relieve the party of some treasure is to have something obviously more powerful than they guarding the portal. If they want through, they must pay a toll equal to lots of gold - which the beast eats (which is WHY it wants the gold!). Oh, another fun "valuable" option is artifacts from an ancient culture. A very limited market, but once you find a collector, you will likely be rolling in the dough. Ancient coins might be worth far more than face value to a coin collector (a numisatist, I believe they call themselves). An alchemist's lab is very expensive, bulky, AND fragile. Have fun moving that around! The stuff in an alchemist's lab (tanglefoot bags, alchemist's fire, etc) is valuable, too. The same can be said for a library. The only problem with libraries is that many PCs will want to know specific titles. Be prepared - there are a variety of book title generators out there. Maybe some of the books are extra special - first editions, signed copies, only copies, original manuscripts, special knowledge (bonus to Knowledge (specific topic) or Appraise (specific items) or Spellcraft (spells of a certain school)), not too mention the magical books one can find in the DMG. As it is a lost city, perhaps some of the buildings still hold MW tools from different trades? Scalpels, wood cutting tools, stone carving tools, etc. Great value, limited PC use. If you really want to inconvience the PCs, make sure that there are NO bags of holding, portable holes or the like to be found. If they want them, they will need to make them.
Thelandrach 09-22-04, 09:10 AM	I don't think you should change a thing. If they get 150,000 coins in the dungeon, that's what they get. It's up to them to figure out how much of it to take back. If they leave behind piles of coins because they've got all their sacks stuffed full of gems, then that's the decision they make. Parties in my campaign don't bother picking up copper or silver pieces until they've got a portable hole, and even then, only if they have a use for it (they found barrels filled with 50,000 copper pieces once and started melting it down and making copper garden gnomes using a mold they made from the wizard when he got turned to stone...). Oh, and by "Lost City," do you mean "Lost City of Tsjocanth", or just "Lost City?"
TaliaWinters 09-22-04, 10:05 AM	If they want through, they must pay a toll equal to lots of gold - which the beast eats (which is WHY it wants the gold!). Hum that's an idea. The Portal works, but the folks are very angry that they steal all the gifts from their dead people. So they want something back (how much it is, we'll see). How much Money and equipment, should a party have? (should it be similar to the NPCs shown in the DMG? Or more/less) If you really want to inconvience the PCs, make sure that there are NO bags of holding, portable holes or the like to be found. If they want them, they will need to make them. I'll give them no such equipment down there *g. I'm a nice guy but not terrible nice. they found barrels filled with 50,000 copper pieces höhöhö ... :) They got some simillar in this adventure, but less. about 3,000 SM and the barell dump. It took about 3h to pick em up and lay back in the barell. A BIG amusement ;) Oh, and by "Lost City," do you mean "Lost City of Tsjocanth", or just "Lost City?" I mean "The Lost City" from Tom Moldvay, an D&D 1E Aventure, No. B4 (Character level 1-3). From 1983 :D
krichaiushii 09-22-04, 10:47 AM	It was the Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth (S4). The DMG provides rough guidelines for recommended PC wealth levels, by level. Page 43 of the 3.0 DMG. Overall, its much greater than that recommended for NPCs. Another way to reacquire PC treasure is to make them give it up willingly. Is it possible that the Lost City contains a spellcaster capable of manufacturing SOME magic items? If so, the PCs may take him up on it. His spells known are limited (best make him a wizard), so PCs may have to provide scrolls or spells if there is something specific they want. Along the same lines, can healing be purchased?
Supercilious 09-22-04, 12:50 PM	Make it gold-coated led... That would be VERY ironic.
TaliaWinters 09-23-04, 04:14 AM	The DMG provides rough guidelines for recommended PC wealth levels, by level. Page 43 of the 3.0 DMG. Overall, its much greater than that recommended for NPCs. jear I got it... I thougt that I'll stand near to this. @healing Hehe, VERY ironic. :D