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Forum Dead?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Rich_The_Mad
Mar 28, 2011 13:01:49 Posted same topic on SOW's DM group. Just getting my own SOW campaign rolling, now halfway through Bodrin's Watch (and the Skill Challenge for Umbraforge - had to mix it up to make sense for the party).

It seems like the SOW forums have gone dead. Are there still people out there running the campaign or starting their own? Let's keep it goin!
#2
nyteskie
Mar 29, 2011 8:47:29 I'm still running SoW (finishing up Temple Between) andI still check in on the forum from time to time. There are periods of inactivity and then there will be a brief flurry, but there are a few regulars who check in from time to time.
#3
Rich_The_Mad
Mar 29, 2011 13:48:55 Congrats on getting that far!

I'm glad to hear about regulars - I'm very pleased with the huge backlog of heroic tier fan support, but unfortunately community corrections and tips seem to shrink in paragon tier and are mostly completely absent in epic tier.
#4
gargs454
Mar 30, 2011 6:38:03 I am still running it as well, just finished Lost Mines of Karak. Its been slow going due to the group's assorted schedules, but I too check in from time to time. I think the biggest problem with the paragon and epic support is that so many campaigns die out before then due to time constraints and the like. I think this is made worse by the fact that in my opinion, with the exception of Bordrins Watch, the early heroic tier adventures are among the worst of the path, so many groups probably lost interest early on.
#5
nyteskie
Mar 30, 2011 14:10:32 Seconded Gargs on the reasons you don't see as much paragon/epic support. I'd also add that by and large those modules tend to be a bit tighter - the plot makes more sense, there is a less scattered feel to the adventure path, and the encounters, skill challenges, etc. are just overall of higher quality. So there's less of a need to scour the boards for problem fixes.

There's also the alternate explanation that the DM's found his stride by paragon and doesn't feel the need to nit pick the modules as much, or isn't even using them as written, either. I'm finding that I have less time to invest as well, so my time seeking/giving advice on the boards has been trimmed somewhat to allow more time to focus on actually developing the game.
#6
graht
Mar 31, 2011 14:45:42 I'm still running it, about 2/3 through Bitter Glass, and plan on running it until the end of the path.

I check this forum at least twice a week. I check the DMs group about once every couple of months (I keep forgeting it's there whereas this forum is a main DDI forum).
#7
slayn777
Mar 31, 2011 21:23:03 Currently about 1/3 of the way through Temple Between. Its taken us more than a year to get this far and although its been fun I have been telling my players that once we finish the heroic tier I need a DMing vacation. So maybe we'll become yet another group that disbanded after the heroic tier. Or maybe not. We'll see =)
#8
Rich_The_Mad
Apr 01, 2011 10:22:08 I'm glad to hear things get tighter as the path matures - though I'm only in Bodrin's Watch / little bit of Umbraforge, I've had to customize heavily. Beyond the typical fixes at this stage for continuity, motivations, etc, It's also been SUPER heavy on Brutes and Soldiers, which is a no-no in avoiding encounter grind unless you have some tricks up your sleeve.

It probably doesn't help that I have fluxuating player attendance that I've been accounting for and modding the adventure for - on little side trek in Overview after The Monestary of Sundered Chains turned into the full on Skill Challenge in umbraforge mixed with some custom encounters.

EDIT: Actually, it worked out quite nicely and may sumbit that to the DM's group. I've been highlighting the weapons and armor the orcs have. When they finished the Monestary, I Dm'd it with Kalad so they leaned towards going to Overlook to warn the council and see if the Farstriders returned before going to the Vents.

They recieved a Home Base (TM) in Forgehome for their troubles (shared with the Freeriders), and had the Lost Ones attack it and try to bust down the party they were having with the same weapons, which turned into them trying to find the supplier, which turned into the full skill challenge at the beginning of Umbraforge. They haven't discovered the Happy Beggar stuff yet, but have PLENTY of motivation to follow Modra through the portal, which was a big concern - a few custom ambushes and a secret warehouse meeting gone wrong is all the convincing they need.

Note to DM's - DO NOT have an underling/lost one, etc tell the rumor on the rumor table that no-one really knows Modra's higher-up to a player with a +16 bonus to bluff...obviously he rolled with it, got NPC allies, and severely hampered the custom battle I had by convincing half the combatants he was Sarshan (though he doesn't know the name yet).
#9
rachweded
Apr 06, 2011 13:32:55 players just landed at Garaitha's Anvil.
game still going well although relatively frequent deaths have occured, mostly due to poor team work and a defender that refuses to mark.
sadly the defender is unlikely to die as it's a dwarf warden.

some encounters in this one have been a nightmare for the group, but in a good way, the first one was a walk due to traps and the players having tons of slide/pull enemy powers
#10
Neptune0923
Apr 15, 2011 11:11:40 I'm running SOW. The party is finishing up Bordrin's Watch this weekend.
#11
MainBrain
Apr 16, 2011 12:47:51 Running SOW, too, two groups. First has finished Bodrin's Watch, no surges left, at ~ 5HP each. ^^

Second group enters Nexus tonight.
#12
Rich_The_Mad
Apr 19, 2011 12:13:27 My party's now in the Nexus, though they've finished the SRoU skill challenge early.

I'm going to try to make a 3D Nexus model - I've seen a few pics of some around the site and I think its a great idea.

I'm a little nervous about a TPK in the final battle - 3 out of 4 of my players are brand new to the game and we're rolling with a 4 person party - especially as Tusk looks to be one bad mofo. I think it will work out alright though if they keep their head on their shoulders. Since it consists of a Pacifist Cleric, a Bardent, a Dwarf Warden (or a Revenant Battlemind, depending on whos there), and a Changeling Feypact Warlock the group has PLENTY of survivability.
#13
scholar_and_a_brutalman
Apr 20, 2011 19:37:10 My party is now very close to the end of Legacy of Io. My general take on the AP is that the paragon series of scenarios were the best.
#14
Rich_The_Mad
Apr 21, 2011 8:18:49 Any general advice for Paragon or Epic tier? The boards are flush with suggestions on mods to heroic tier but it dies down after, as less people play and the adventure path generally gets better.
#15
graht
Apr 21, 2011 15:08:09 I've only run into one issue in the Paragon tier.

In the first part of Bitter Glass there's a somewhat complex series of encounters depending on how the PCs assault/support the Githzerai Fortress in the cliff. It knew was way to much for my group (they're more casual players) so I paired it down to one enounter for them and dealt with the other four encounters with NPCs/skill tests.

While the PCs approached the temple on their ship I ran the Draconic Champion as is. While the PCs were dealing with that Tokk'it (piloting the PCs ship) rammed the Sacrifice (Balance checks for all the PCs with those failing knocked prone and those failing significantly knocked prone and slid towards the nearest railing) and sent it crashing into the Githyanki army below. After the PCs finished off the champion Tokk'it wimpered, "help me..." because he was losing control of the ship. With the PCs help he was able to crash it into the Landslide Zone (another balance check), setting off the landslide which finished off the rest of the Githyanki army (eliminating encounters A4 and A5). More arcana checks were required to bring what was left of their ship to its final rest in front of the fortress.

If your group are hardcore players you'll probably want to run those encounters as is but at the very least I recommend reading them several times before hand because your players have some freedom on the order in which they do (or don't) do them.
#16
Rich_The_Mad
Apr 22, 2011 9:14:56 Cool solution!

I find that to be the case in a lot of scenarios in this adventure path - a lot of improvisation is necessary at times depending on how on-rails the adventure is.
#17
nyteskie
May 02, 2011 13:04:01 My ambition is to do a thread for reviews/advice for the paragon & epic tiers starting with Beyond the Mottled Tower, as there is a great thread on ENworld that I'll link in that post that covers the heroic tier. I will get to it...someday. Although as a quick side note, if one were inclined to have the party deal with Sarshan before really coming up against the githyanki, Mottled can be fit (story wise) right in between Den of the Destroyer and Temple Between. I talked a bit about that somewhere on here...

I also just ran the beginning of Haven, and had a few issues with the two shipboard encounters. I eliminated the first of the two dragon encounters, and just added a second dragon to the champion encounter. However, it wasn't the enemies that were the real problem here; it was a combination of the enemies' 'push on charge' power combined with the relatively narrow confines of the ship's deck that was the most lethal. Of course, the fact that it was the cleric (who stayed safely on the ship) who plummetted off the side of the ship to his death rather than the fighter (who jumped off the ship WITHOUT a rope) was what made the encounter so loaded with bittersweet irony.

One other thing - if you can, take a look at Haven during the heroic tier, and in particular the coalition skill challenge. Knowing the names & locations of some of the cities in the wider world may help answer questions earlier in the path, and you can also foreshadow their eventual involvement instead of dropping a big new map on the players all at once.
#18
Winterhaven_Regular
May 09, 2011 17:21:04 I have an "Epic Tier Notes" thread covering the whole tier in the SOW DM group. You may have to join to see it. The thread is here.

I've been wondering how this path holds up if the players use essentials characters. Does it still balance ok?

I would have LOVED to use essentials monsters. They work much better IMO. More damage, less HP.

Scales is a great path. Paragon and epic are both fantastic. I am now running a conversion of the Temple of Elemental Evil and my players still talk about Scales all the time.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Rich_The_Mad Mar 28, 2011 13:01:49	Posted same topic on SOW's DM group. Just getting my own SOW campaign rolling, now halfway through Bodrin's Watch (and the Skill Challenge for Umbraforge - had to mix it up to make sense for the party). It seems like the SOW forums have gone dead. Are there still people out there running the campaign or starting their own? Let's keep it goin!
#2 nyteskie Mar 29, 2011 8:47:29	I'm still running SoW (finishing up Temple Between) andI still check in on the forum from time to time. There are periods of inactivity and then there will be a brief flurry, but there are a few regulars who check in from time to time.
#3 Rich_The_Mad Mar 29, 2011 13:48:55	Congrats on getting that far! I'm glad to hear about regulars - I'm very pleased with the huge backlog of heroic tier fan support, but unfortunately community corrections and tips seem to shrink in paragon tier and are mostly completely absent in epic tier.
#4 gargs454 Mar 30, 2011 6:38:03	I am still running it as well, just finished Lost Mines of Karak. Its been slow going due to the group's assorted schedules, but I too check in from time to time. I think the biggest problem with the paragon and epic support is that so many campaigns die out before then due to time constraints and the like. I think this is made worse by the fact that in my opinion, with the exception of Bordrins Watch, the early heroic tier adventures are among the worst of the path, so many groups probably lost interest early on.
#5 nyteskie Mar 30, 2011 14:10:32	Seconded Gargs on the reasons you don't see as much paragon/epic support. I'd also add that by and large those modules tend to be a bit tighter - the plot makes more sense, there is a less scattered feel to the adventure path, and the encounters, skill challenges, etc. are just overall of higher quality. So there's less of a need to scour the boards for problem fixes. There's also the alternate explanation that the DM's found his stride by paragon and doesn't feel the need to nit pick the modules as much, or isn't even using them as written, either. I'm finding that I have less time to invest as well, so my time seeking/giving advice on the boards has been trimmed somewhat to allow more time to focus on actually developing the game.
#6 graht Mar 31, 2011 14:45:42	I'm still running it, about 2/3 through Bitter Glass, and plan on running it until the end of the path. I check this forum at least twice a week. I check the DMs group about once every couple of months (I keep forgeting it's there whereas this forum is a main DDI forum).
#7 slayn777 Mar 31, 2011 21:23:03	Currently about 1/3 of the way through Temple Between. Its taken us more than a year to get this far and although its been fun I have been telling my players that once we finish the heroic tier I need a DMing vacation. So maybe we'll become yet another group that disbanded after the heroic tier. Or maybe not. We'll see =)
#8 Rich_The_Mad Apr 01, 2011 10:22:08	I'm glad to hear things get tighter as the path matures - though I'm only in Bodrin's Watch / little bit of Umbraforge, I've had to customize heavily. Beyond the typical fixes at this stage for continuity, motivations, etc, It's also been SUPER heavy on Brutes and Soldiers, which is a no-no in avoiding encounter grind unless you have some tricks up your sleeve. It probably doesn't help that I have fluxuating player attendance that I've been accounting for and modding the adventure for - on little side trek in Overview after The Monestary of Sundered Chains turned into the full on Skill Challenge in umbraforge mixed with some custom encounters. EDIT: Actually, it worked out quite nicely and may sumbit that to the DM's group. I've been highlighting the weapons and armor the orcs have. When they finished the Monestary, I Dm'd it with Kalad so they leaned towards going to Overlook to warn the council and see if the Farstriders returned before going to the Vents. They recieved a Home Base (TM) in Forgehome for their troubles (shared with the Freeriders), and had the Lost Ones attack it and try to bust down the party they were having with the same weapons, which turned into them trying to find the supplier, which turned into the full skill challenge at the beginning of Umbraforge. They haven't discovered the Happy Beggar stuff yet, but have PLENTY of motivation to follow Modra through the portal, which was a big concern - a few custom ambushes and a secret warehouse meeting gone wrong is all the convincing they need. Note to DM's - DO NOT have an underling/lost one, etc tell the rumor on the rumor table that no-one really knows Modra's higher-up to a player with a +16 bonus to bluff...obviously he rolled with it, got NPC allies, and severely hampered the custom battle I had by convincing half the combatants he was Sarshan (though he doesn't know the name yet).
#9 rachweded Apr 06, 2011 13:32:55	players just landed at Garaitha's Anvil. game still going well although relatively frequent deaths have occured, mostly due to poor team work and a defender that refuses to mark. sadly the defender is unlikely to die as it's a dwarf warden. some encounters in this one have been a nightmare for the group, but in a good way, the first one was a walk due to traps and the players having tons of slide/pull enemy powers
#10 Neptune0923 Apr 15, 2011 11:11:40	I'm running SOW. The party is finishing up Bordrin's Watch this weekend.
#11 MainBrain Apr 16, 2011 12:47:51	Running SOW, too, two groups. First has finished Bodrin's Watch, no surges left, at ~ 5HP each. ^^ Second group enters Nexus tonight.
#12 Rich_The_Mad Apr 19, 2011 12:13:27	My party's now in the Nexus, though they've finished the SRoU skill challenge early. I'm going to try to make a 3D Nexus model - I've seen a few pics of some around the site and I think its a great idea. I'm a little nervous about a TPK in the final battle - 3 out of 4 of my players are brand new to the game and we're rolling with a 4 person party - especially as Tusk looks to be one bad mofo. I think it will work out alright though if they keep their head on their shoulders. Since it consists of a Pacifist Cleric, a Bardent, a Dwarf Warden (or a Revenant Battlemind, depending on whos there), and a Changeling Feypact Warlock the group has PLENTY of survivability.
#13 scholar_and_a_brutalman Apr 20, 2011 19:37:10	My party is now very close to the end of Legacy of Io. My general take on the AP is that the paragon series of scenarios were the best.
#14 Rich_The_Mad Apr 21, 2011 8:18:49	Any general advice for Paragon or Epic tier? The boards are flush with suggestions on mods to heroic tier but it dies down after, as less people play and the adventure path generally gets better.
#15 graht Apr 21, 2011 15:08:09	I've only run into one issue in the Paragon tier. In the first part of Bitter Glass there's a somewhat complex series of encounters depending on how the PCs assault/support the Githzerai Fortress in the cliff. It knew was way to much for my group (they're more casual players) so I paired it down to one enounter for them and dealt with the other four encounters with NPCs/skill tests. While the PCs approached the temple on their ship I ran the Draconic Champion as is. While the PCs were dealing with that Tokk'it (piloting the PCs ship) rammed the Sacrifice (Balance checks for all the PCs with those failing knocked prone and those failing significantly knocked prone and slid towards the nearest railing) and sent it crashing into the Githyanki army below. After the PCs finished off the champion Tokk'it wimpered, "help me..." because he was losing control of the ship. With the PCs help he was able to crash it into the Landslide Zone (another balance check), setting off the landslide which finished off the rest of the Githyanki army (eliminating encounters A4 and A5). More arcana checks were required to bring what was left of their ship to its final rest in front of the fortress. If your group are hardcore players you'll probably want to run those encounters as is but at the very least I recommend reading them several times before hand because your players have some freedom on the order in which they do (or don't) do them.
#16 Rich_The_Mad Apr 22, 2011 9:14:56	Cool solution! I find that to be the case in a lot of scenarios in this adventure path - a lot of improvisation is necessary at times depending on how on-rails the adventure is.
#17 nyteskie May 02, 2011 13:04:01	My ambition is to do a thread for reviews/advice for the paragon & epic tiers starting with Beyond the Mottled Tower, as there is a great thread on ENworld that I'll link in that post that covers the heroic tier. I will get to it...someday. Although as a quick side note, if one were inclined to have the party deal with Sarshan before really coming up against the githyanki, Mottled can be fit (story wise) right in between Den of the Destroyer and Temple Between. I talked a bit about that somewhere on here... I also just ran the beginning of Haven, and had a few issues with the two shipboard encounters. I eliminated the first of the two dragon encounters, and just added a second dragon to the champion encounter. However, it wasn't the enemies that were the real problem here; it was a combination of the enemies' 'push on charge' power combined with the relatively narrow confines of the ship's deck that was the most lethal. Of course, the fact that it was the cleric (who stayed safely on the ship) who plummetted off the side of the ship to his death rather than the fighter (who jumped off the ship WITHOUT a rope) was what made the encounter so loaded with bittersweet irony. One other thing - if you can, take a look at Haven during the heroic tier, and in particular the coalition skill challenge. Knowing the names & locations of some of the cities in the wider world may help answer questions earlier in the path, and you can also foreshadow their eventual involvement instead of dropping a big new map on the players all at once.
#18 Winterhaven_Regular May 09, 2011 17:21:04	I have an "Epic Tier Notes" thread covering the whole tier in the SOW DM group. You may have to join to see it. The thread is here. I've been wondering how this path holds up if the players use essentials characters. Does it still balance ok? I would have LOVED to use essentials monsters. They work much better IMO. More damage, less HP. Scales is a great path. Paragon and epic are both fantastic. I am now running a conversion of the Temple of Elemental Evil and my players still talk about Scales all the time.