Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Novama Jul 24, 2015 10:33:49	I have been running the scourge of the sword coast for some guys since playtest. It's ending this saturday one way or another. My question comes from running the module and the length of time it took.   Each location/dungeon for the pc's to overcome was full of monsters. Random encounters weren't a factor. The pc's struggled with each location in the module. The problems could be summed up in the following:   1. approaching a site generally led to them drawing aggro and/or alerting most of the creatures in the location. this resulted in failed entry or just a bloody fight in and through the location which typically resulted in player casualties.   2. Moving through a location and drawing aggro from several groups of monsters at once. This was sometimes module based or it was just the sound and proximity of the monster groups that made it likely they would participate in the fight.   3. They retreat to regroup and give the location a day or more to refresh so I generally replaced depleted monster forces. Their next attempt was generally smarter than the first, but having to cut a path through the same number of forces each time seemed to slow their progress quite a bit in getting through the module.   While I could chalk up the time it took to complete the module to bad tactics and derping (there was a lot of foolish choices made), I want to know if the module was designed with the idea in mind that once a monster is slain it doesn't come back unless given considerable amount of time to refresh with 'reinforcement' troups to the site that may or may not be mentioned by the module.   If I do not recover the forces of the location, then the players could simply hit and run the location until the wipe out a majority of the forces over the course of a week or so. I suppose there is the idea that reinforcements could come in the time span to counter their guerrila tactics, but is that the intent of a module?   Cutting out all the fluff, I suppose it boils down to: are the module locations designed to be overcome all at once or is resting in the dungeon and/or performing hit and run tactics to reduce the forces of the dungeon over a period of time the intent?
#2 transcendantviewer Jul 24, 2015 13:45:19	I never played in that module or DM'd it, but it sounds like it intends for the players to make smarter decisions, and your consistant replenishment of enemy ranks probably didn't make things any easier. Players will develop tactics that work, if guerilla tactics work best in this scenario, then that's what the players use. Do as much damage as you can without casualties on your side, then get out and do it again the following day. Rinse, repeat until the dungeon is squeeky clean.
#3 BRJN Jul 24, 2015 17:10:10	Novama, you should look up pukunui and compare notes.  He's DM'ing Scourge also, and his group is hung up on the duergar fortress.