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My first campaign, critique and ideas

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ryanl
Oct 20, 2010 15:34:22 I've talked it over with my players and we are in agreement about doing a 4E FR campaign. I'm not a super experienced DM, but I've run KotS and smaller skirmishes so the rules are no problem. However, material for 4E is a problem, because there just isn't a whole lot of pre-published stuff. I realize that I'll have to create quite a bit. First of all, though, I'm trying to come up with as much material as possible to start with.

So far my plan is to follow the FR campaign guide and start in Loudwater, moving through Barrow of the Ogre King and Menace of the Icy spire, then doing Scepter Tower of Spellgard. I'm figuring that will take my players up to about level 5 or so. I have access to all the Living Forgotten Realms adventures so I thought I'd incorporate travel extensively throughout the FR lands and use some of the LFR adventures to fill things in. I also plan on using some of the "legendary" modules of ages past like the original Tomb of Horrors or Ravenloft I6 module, perhaps City of the Spider Queen. But that requires a lot of conversion, which is possible but I don't want to delve into converting a whole lot YET, and I don't want to go back and read all the previous editions of D&D for resources until I have to.

So is there any plan for more Forgotten Realms 4E modules or resources? Any pre-published stuff that I'm missing?

What about the Underdark? I perused through it, and although it is beneath the FR lands, the Underdark hardcover doesn't mention anything about the spellplague. I'll be using some Underdark elements as well.

So as of now that gives me FR Player's guide, campaign guide, 1 module, the Underdark hardcover, and LFR adventures without having to do conversions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy about it, and I plan on doing some creating, but really...only 5 levels of pre-published stuff?
#2
sfdragon
Oct 20, 2010 16:48:10 Check the DDI, there is a new book coming out next year for neverwinter.

otherwise all 4e material such as the 4e underdark book, has to be modified to fit for the FR, which likely means things will have to be switched out even the god in that book does not exist in the realms.

for more realms, you will have to look for pre 4e books or visit candlekeep.com for more questions.
#3
Talinfein
Oct 20, 2010 21:50:32
I've talked it over with my players and we are in agreement about doing a 4E FR campaign. I'm not a super experienced DM, but I've run KotS and smaller skirmishes so the rules are no problem. However, material for 4E is a problem, because there just isn't a whole lot of pre-published stuff. I realize that I'll have to create quite a bit. First of all, though, I'm trying to come up with as much material as possible to start with.

So far my plan is to follow the FR campaign guide and start in Loudwater, moving through Barrow of the Ogre King and Menace of the Icy spire, then doing Scepter Tower of Spellgard. I'm figuring that will take my players up to about level 5 or so. I have access to all the Living Forgotten Realms adventures so I thought I'd incorporate travel extensively throughout the FR lands and use some of the LFR adventures to fill things in. I also plan on using some of the "legendary" modules of ages past like the original Tomb of Horrors or Ravenloft I6 module, perhaps City of the Spider Queen. But that requires a lot of conversion, which is possible but I don't want to delve into converting a whole lot YET, and I don't want to go back and read all the previous editions of D&D for resources until I have to.

So is there any plan for more Forgotten Realms 4E modules or resources? Any pre-published stuff that I'm missing?

What about the Underdark? I perused through it, and although it is beneath the FR lands, the Underdark hardcover doesn't mention anything about the spellplague. I'll be using some Underdark elements as well.

So as of now that gives me FR Player's guide, campaign guide, 1 module, the Underdark hardcover, and LFR adventures without having to do conversions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy about it, and I plan on doing some creating, but really...only 5 levels of pre-published stuff?

I've recently started a campaign set in Loudwater, so I thought I'd chime in.

We started off with "Coppernight's Hold" from Dungeon Delve and then moved on to "Menace of the Icy Spire". I am running "Remains of the Kingdom (or Empire, can't remember)" right now, which is also working very well. I placed Elkridge just west of the Starmount and the fallen city on top of that.

After this adventure, I'll be running "Thunderspire Labyrinth", which is beneath the Graypeaks in my campaign. After that I plan on using some more Dungeon adventures and an excursion to Mithrendain.

My campaign is called "The Return of Mystra" and basically sets up a conflict between the PCs, who are guided by strange visions, and minions of Karsus, who is semi-conscious in my campaign and using people in the Realms to gain power.

So, in Icy Spire they discovered the rumors of Karsus being buried somewhere near the Dire Wood. In Remains of the Empire they will discover that part of Karse (his city of old Netheril) crashed into the mountain and a group of devout shadar-kai from Shade are trying to unearth some of its secrets. I am also changing the bad guy from Thunderspire to be a shade who is under Karsus' influence and trying to conquer the Gray Vale in order to force people to worship Karsus and give him power. Both parties, Karsus and the PCs, will be hunting for splinters of Mystra's consciousness before long and either trying to resurrect her or gain godhood themselves.

The point is, I am using published adventures exclusively (due to time issues) and we are staying in the region of Loudwater the whole time. There will be travels to faraway places through portals and such, but the character's home will always be there. This works quite well so far, as all PCs have attachments to the place and its people. I've also used Fallcrest as a map for Secomber and put the Red Wizard Enclave from Dragon Magazine there, so the PCs have a bigger city to go to and a marketplace for magic items that makes sense.

Hope that helps a bit.

Happy gaming.
#4
ukplayerx
Oct 21, 2010 5:51:20
PM sent!!
#5
eriksdb
Oct 22, 2010 12:20:35 There is indeed a limitation on FR branded pre-published adventures, unless you care to check out the Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) network, which has LOTS of adventures ready for appropriation for its members.

Also, there will be another FR sourcebook showing up Fall 2011 called the Neverwinter Campaign Guide. It contains a great deal for running a Realms campaign (I should know, I wrote a third of it), and while that's probably a little late for your game, you still might want to check it out for some ideas or a setting for some adventures.

Also, I'm running a campaign kind of similar to the one you're talking about in the OP, which st started with Loudwater, progressed to Scepter Tower, and is now in Waterdeep. The PCs are currently level 7 and I have a few more things for them to wrap up in Waterdeep. Where they go next depends largely on them, as I'm running it as a sandbox sort of campaign that's governed quite a bit by character motivations, goals, backgrounds, and in-game decisions.

The best summary of my game so far can probably be found in the journal of one of my players (Ben, who plays a drow-scarred elf invoker, Suriel). His first entry (from back in January) is here: community.wizards.com/zephsright/blog/20...

They've gone from level 1 to level 7 over the last nine months. That's not so unreasonable, is it? I expect them to be paragon by our one year anniversary.

His most recent entry, ending a major campaign arc, is here--some of the entry contains an adapted summary I wrote as well: community.wizards.com/zephsright/blog/20...

The campaign has featured numerous characters from my writing (particularly my third novel Downshadow), and will feature more.

When they hit level 10, I plan to put them through a version of the 4e Tomb of Horrors adaption book. Check out this thread for some ideas and the ongoing discussion of how that's going: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...

I would love to help you out with particular questions, if you come up with one you want to ask. Feel free to PM me anytime, or email at erikscottdebie AT yahoo.com

Cheers
#6
leebrown1990
Nov 22, 2010 7:53:37 I started in Loudwater too. As a general guildine that worked for me; pick a theme/ style and tone for your campagin then select your prewritten adventures and tweak them to fit this vision. Then just patch up the gaps with your own creations.

Before long you will find it so easy to seed future strylines in a seemigly unrelated adventure.

So far I've done: Barrow of the Ogre Kings (FRCG) > Bandits of Zelbross (FRCG) > The Wizards Apprentice/ Draigdurroch Tower (D&D 4E for Dummies) > The Kyhber Harvest (Eberron, free RPG day.)

After which I have my own adventures set in the Lizard Kingdoms and Shadowfell. As you can see, some of the advetures I have used are for the generic setting or from a totally different setting all together, it really doesnt take that much tweaking to make them work.

Cheers,
Lee
#7
Diffan
Nov 23, 2010 9:43:45 There is also another FR adventure called Escape from Sembia that I...aquired and it seems fairly interesting. When I DM my group again, I'm thinking of starting new and possibly doing that direction.

As for other ideas, the 4E's Tomb of Horrors is a great adventure that I've looked through and you can replace Acerak (sp?) with Larloch and place the dungeon near Waterdeep. It even fits canon somewhat as there is a the tomb called Warlock's Crypt (ie. Tomb of Horrors). That's what I think i'll plan for my current 4E group, who just hit level 12.

Dungeon Delve is a great source for plug-in-play adventures in many areas close to or around the Western Heartlands, the Silver Marshes, and Waterdeep.

And you can always take the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure and place it in the Realms with the free FR conversion guide.
#8
pruano
Nov 23, 2010 18:59:24 There are also a couple of threads discussing the adaptation of the H1-3 adventures to the Realms, you may look into those as well.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ryanl Oct 20, 2010 15:34:22	I've talked it over with my players and we are in agreement about doing a 4E FR campaign. I'm not a super experienced DM, but I've run KotS and smaller skirmishes so the rules are no problem. However, material for 4E is a problem, because there just isn't a whole lot of pre-published stuff. I realize that I'll have to create quite a bit. First of all, though, I'm trying to come up with as much material as possible to start with. So far my plan is to follow the FR campaign guide and start in Loudwater, moving through Barrow of the Ogre King and Menace of the Icy spire, then doing Scepter Tower of Spellgard. I'm figuring that will take my players up to about level 5 or so. I have access to all the Living Forgotten Realms adventures so I thought I'd incorporate travel extensively throughout the FR lands and use some of the LFR adventures to fill things in. I also plan on using some of the "legendary" modules of ages past like the original Tomb of Horrors or Ravenloft I6 module, perhaps City of the Spider Queen. But that requires a lot of conversion, which is possible but I don't want to delve into converting a whole lot YET, and I don't want to go back and read all the previous editions of D&D for resources until I have to. So is there any plan for more Forgotten Realms 4E modules or resources? Any pre-published stuff that I'm missing? What about the Underdark? I perused through it, and although it is beneath the FR lands, the Underdark hardcover doesn't mention anything about the spellplague. I'll be using some Underdark elements as well. So as of now that gives me FR Player's guide, campaign guide, 1 module, the Underdark hardcover, and LFR adventures without having to do conversions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy about it, and I plan on doing some creating, but really...only 5 levels of pre-published stuff?
#2 sfdragon Oct 20, 2010 16:48:10	Check the DDI, there is a new book coming out next year for neverwinter. otherwise all 4e material such as the 4e underdark book, has to be modified to fit for the FR, which likely means things will have to be switched out even the god in that book does not exist in the realms. for more realms, you will have to look for pre 4e books or visit candlekeep.com for more questions.
#3 Talinfein Oct 20, 2010 21:50:32	I've talked it over with my players and we are in agreement about doing a 4E FR campaign. I'm not a super experienced DM, but I've run KotS and smaller skirmishes so the rules are no problem. However, material for 4E is a problem, because there just isn't a whole lot of pre-published stuff. I realize that I'll have to create quite a bit. First of all, though, I'm trying to come up with as much material as possible to start with. So far my plan is to follow the FR campaign guide and start in Loudwater, moving through Barrow of the Ogre King and Menace of the Icy spire, then doing Scepter Tower of Spellgard. I'm figuring that will take my players up to about level 5 or so. I have access to all the Living Forgotten Realms adventures so I thought I'd incorporate travel extensively throughout the FR lands and use some of the LFR adventures to fill things in. I also plan on using some of the "legendary" modules of ages past like the original Tomb of Horrors or Ravenloft I6 module, perhaps City of the Spider Queen. But that requires a lot of conversion, which is possible but I don't want to delve into converting a whole lot YET, and I don't want to go back and read all the previous editions of D&D for resources until I have to. So is there any plan for more Forgotten Realms 4E modules or resources? Any pre-published stuff that I'm missing? What about the Underdark? I perused through it, and although it is beneath the FR lands, the Underdark hardcover doesn't mention anything about the spellplague. I'll be using some Underdark elements as well. So as of now that gives me FR Player's guide, campaign guide, 1 module, the Underdark hardcover, and LFR adventures without having to do conversions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy about it, and I plan on doing some creating, but really...only 5 levels of pre-published stuff? I've recently started a campaign set in Loudwater, so I thought I'd chime in. We started off with "Coppernight's Hold" from Dungeon Delve and then moved on to "Menace of the Icy Spire". I am running "Remains of the Kingdom (or Empire, can't remember)" right now, which is also working very well. I placed Elkridge just west of the Starmount and the fallen city on top of that. After this adventure, I'll be running "Thunderspire Labyrinth", which is beneath the Graypeaks in my campaign. After that I plan on using some more Dungeon adventures and an excursion to Mithrendain. My campaign is called "The Return of Mystra" and basically sets up a conflict between the PCs, who are guided by strange visions, and minions of Karsus, who is semi-conscious in my campaign and using people in the Realms to gain power. So, in Icy Spire they discovered the rumors of Karsus being buried somewhere near the Dire Wood. In Remains of the Empire they will discover that part of Karse (his city of old Netheril) crashed into the mountain and a group of devout shadar-kai from Shade are trying to unearth some of its secrets. I am also changing the bad guy from Thunderspire to be a shade who is under Karsus' influence and trying to conquer the Gray Vale in order to force people to worship Karsus and give him power. Both parties, Karsus and the PCs, will be hunting for splinters of Mystra's consciousness before long and either trying to resurrect her or gain godhood themselves. The point is, I am using published adventures exclusively (due to time issues) and we are staying in the region of Loudwater the whole time. There will be travels to faraway places through portals and such, but the character's home will always be there. This works quite well so far, as all PCs have attachments to the place and its people. I've also used Fallcrest as a map for Secomber and put the Red Wizard Enclave from Dragon Magazine there, so the PCs have a bigger city to go to and a marketplace for magic items that makes sense. Hope that helps a bit. Happy gaming.
#4 ukplayerx Oct 21, 2010 5:51:20	PM sent!!
#5 eriksdb Oct 22, 2010 12:20:35	There is indeed a limitation on FR branded pre-published adventures, unless you care to check out the Living Forgotten Realms (LFR) network, which has LOTS of adventures ready for appropriation for its members. Also, there will be another FR sourcebook showing up Fall 2011 called the Neverwinter Campaign Guide. It contains a great deal for running a Realms campaign (I should know, I wrote a third of it), and while that's probably a little late for your game, you still might want to check it out for some ideas or a setting for some adventures. Also, I'm running a campaign kind of similar to the one you're talking about in the OP, which st started with Loudwater, progressed to Scepter Tower, and is now in Waterdeep. The PCs are currently level 7 and I have a few more things for them to wrap up in Waterdeep. Where they go next depends largely on them, as I'm running it as a sandbox sort of campaign that's governed quite a bit by character motivations, goals, backgrounds, and in-game decisions. The best summary of my game so far can probably be found in the journal of one of my players (Ben, who plays a drow-scarred elf invoker, Suriel). His first entry (from back in January) is here: community.wizards.com/zephsright/blog/20... They've gone from level 1 to level 7 over the last nine months. That's not so unreasonable, is it? I expect them to be paragon by our one year anniversary. His most recent entry, ending a major campaign arc, is here--some of the entry contains an adapted summary I wrote as well: community.wizards.com/zephsright/blog/20... The campaign has featured numerous characters from my writing (particularly my third novel Downshadow), and will feature more. When they hit level 10, I plan to put them through a version of the 4e Tomb of Horrors adaption book. Check out this thread for some ideas and the ongoing discussion of how that's going: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758... I would love to help you out with particular questions, if you come up with one you want to ask. Feel free to PM me anytime, or email at erikscottdebie AT yahoo.com Cheers
#6 leebrown1990 Nov 22, 2010 7:53:37	I started in Loudwater too. As a general guildine that worked for me; pick a theme/ style and tone for your campagin then select your prewritten adventures and tweak them to fit this vision. Then just patch up the gaps with your own creations. Before long you will find it so easy to seed future strylines in a seemigly unrelated adventure. So far I've done: Barrow of the Ogre Kings (FRCG) > Bandits of Zelbross (FRCG) > The Wizards Apprentice/ Draigdurroch Tower (D&D 4E for Dummies) > The Kyhber Harvest (Eberron, free RPG day.) After which I have my own adventures set in the Lizard Kingdoms and Shadowfell. As you can see, some of the advetures I have used are for the generic setting or from a totally different setting all together, it really doesnt take that much tweaking to make them work. Cheers, Lee
#7 Diffan Nov 23, 2010 9:43:45	There is also another FR adventure called Escape from Sembia that I...aquired and it seems fairly interesting. When I DM my group again, I'm thinking of starting new and possibly doing that direction. As for other ideas, the 4E's Tomb of Horrors is a great adventure that I've looked through and you can replace Acerak (sp?) with Larloch and place the dungeon near Waterdeep. It even fits canon somewhat as there is a the tomb called Warlock's Crypt (ie. Tomb of Horrors). That's what I think i'll plan for my current 4E group, who just hit level 12. Dungeon Delve is a great source for plug-in-play adventures in many areas close to or around the Western Heartlands, the Silver Marshes, and Waterdeep. And you can always take the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure and place it in the Realms with the free FR conversion guide.
#8 pruano Nov 23, 2010 18:59:24	There are also a couple of threads discussing the adaptation of the H1-3 adventures to the Realms, you may look into those as well.