Running Scepter Tower of Spellgard - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Running Scepter Tower of Spellgard

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ejl
Dec 15, 2009 14:07:45 Hi

I'm a new DM who only DM'd his first game last week. I ran "The Icy Queen's crossing" from the Weekend in the Realms event. It went really well and using the pregen characters made it so much easier for me. I don't feel ready to take the plunge by writing my own adventures yet but I was thinking of running "Scepter Tower of Spellgard".

Has anyone run this adventure before and if so can you give me a rough idea how long it will take my players to play through it - I will have around 4 or 5 players taking part. I'd also love to hear any advice anyone could offer on running this adventure

Thanks in Advance

#2
The_Silversword
Dec 15, 2009 14:29:10 How long it takes is really up to you and the players. I ran my group through it a couple of weeks back, and it took 2 5 hour sessions to get through it. It could take longer though, the beginning part when the characters first enter the ruins and come to the monastery has a lot of room for roleplay, which could stretch it out some. Also theres all those other groups camped around the ruins which can add in more roleplaying opportunities. Its a pretty combat heavy adventure too. Once they get into the ramparts, i think every room has a combat encounter in it. I wanted to get them through in at least 2 days so some of the lesser combat encounters i just made into skill challenges, and just kinda skimmed through it, like yeah ok you kill all the Gnomes or what ever, next room. But just so people dont think i turned it into a cake walk, I also modified the last battle some too and gave that guy alot more hit points to drag that battle out a little more. All in all i think every one had a good time, which is what counts. So yeah it could take awhile longer to get through it if you wanted it to, or if the players are really playing it up in character and talking to everyone they meet.
#3
Mr_Miscellany
Dec 15, 2009 15:48:14
:SPOILERS:

Hello Ejl and welcome to the Realms!

Scepter Tower took my group about 12 sessions to complete.

They did some roleplaying in the monastery and with the camps outside the tower itself, but skipped the ramparts and the catacombs. Instead they managed to open the front door of the Scepter Tower and stroll right in. Once inside they went up a few levels, then down to the lower levels, then back up again to the top to complete the tower.

I "sieged" the players by having the outside camps all join forces to try and enter through the front door like the players did. The siege never did get in, but it kept the players inside. ;)

OK, general advice:

The way adventure book two split up room descriptions and read-aloud text into two parts drove me insane. Super crappy adventure design. Anyway, I ended up attaching a bookmark to page 34 to remind me to start there, then move to the specific page an encounter was on, so I wouldn't skip any text or forget about treasure.

The encounters inside the tower were to me a little too repetitive. Level after level it seems like there's nothing but Ettercaps, Gnomes, Dark Creepers, Deathjump Spiders and Kobolds. If your players don't mind this and like the combat, don't change anything. If they do start to complain, you can always use the DMG and the Monster Manual to change things up, which is what I did.

Some changes I made included substituting Shadar-Kai warriors for Ettercaps, so the players could have an opportunity to realize sooner that someone was in charge of the tower. I also used a Shadar-Kai witch as Thoran's estranged consort (I put her in encounter T9: Master Arcanist's Quarters), then I moved Thoran upstairs to the very top level of the tower and surrounded him with an honor guard of undead wights (former shadar-kai warrios committed to serving Thoran in death as well as life).

If your players skip any part of the adventure like mine did, you can always bring that skipped part to the players, if it suits your needs. For example, since my players skipped Barthus and his undead minions, I moved Barthus to area T1 at the base of the tower and had him take it over.

Then for areas T1 and T2 I reduced by 2/3 the number of Ettercaps and changed them all to undead created by Barthus. I described them as multi-armed Undead Ettercaps cobbled together from Ettercap corpses, and used the regular stats for Zombie Hulks found on page 275 of the Monster Manual to run them.

I left T3 alone to create a situation where the gnomes were basically all that was left of Thoran's forces to hold off the advance of Barthas and his undead. I made the large double door between T3 and T2 into a sort of clockwork door/skill challenge for the players to open. It was this door -and not the gnomes- that kept Barthas and his undead out of the rest of the tower.

Best of luck Ejl and please let us know how it goes for you!
#4
Aegeri
Dec 16, 2009 4:46:22 It depends on how fast your PCs are in the tactical combat and how much roleplaying they want to do. There are lots of opportunities for roleplaying in this module if you want them, especially if you start from level 1 and build some encounters into the game with Loudwater initially. I found this module took about 4 sessions to complete, with at least one of those being very roleplay orientated and with the party being pretty tactically minded.
#5
Mr_Miscellany
Dec 16, 2009 19:29:36
I found this module took about 4 sessions to complete,

Did you run 12 hours sessions or something? :P

#6
Aegeri
Dec 17, 2009 4:47:41 I removed some of the uninteresting encounters from the module and combined some, changed things around. Even so, I still ran a large amount of the adventure as written, but the party didn't waste a lot of time after the roleplaying and the combats weren't very difficult with the party I had. They also happened upon heading to the Rampants very early on, which saved a lot of time in the module.

Oddly they did end up butchering the friendly adventurers over a rather simple misunderstanding - amusing enough in itself.
#7
sdlorac
Jan 09, 2010 18:49:47 I am in the middle of this module right now and have had about 5 sessions so far - we did a lot of role playing around the Monastery and had some interaction with the seekers around the ruins, especially since a couple of the weaker characters seemed unable to survive for more than one or two encounters without massive rest. It has picked up lately but I find too that the separation of description and encounters drives me crazy - I have started scanning the pages and then cutting pieces into the spreadsheet I use to run the battles - makes it all very compact. I anticipate the rest of the module will take another 3 or 4 sessions.
#8
Mr_Miscellany
Jan 09, 2010 20:43:06 Hey a spreadsheet is a good idea. Wish I'd have thought of that.

My group only roleplayed opposite one group of seekers (the Dragonborn) and didn't interact with many of the patrons at the Monastery. I kind of wish they had, though. One of the better parts of this adventure was the setup for RP opportunities.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ejl Dec 15, 2009 14:07:45	Hi I'm a new DM who only DM'd his first game last week. I ran "The Icy Queen's crossing" from the Weekend in the Realms event. It went really well and using the pregen characters made it so much easier for me. I don't feel ready to take the plunge by writing my own adventures yet but I was thinking of running "Scepter Tower of Spellgard". Has anyone run this adventure before and if so can you give me a rough idea how long it will take my players to play through it - I will have around 4 or 5 players taking part. I'd also love to hear any advice anyone could offer on running this adventure Thanks in Advance
#2 The_Silversword Dec 15, 2009 14:29:10	How long it takes is really up to you and the players. I ran my group through it a couple of weeks back, and it took 2 5 hour sessions to get through it. It could take longer though, the beginning part when the characters first enter the ruins and come to the monastery has a lot of room for roleplay, which could stretch it out some. Also theres all those other groups camped around the ruins which can add in more roleplaying opportunities. Its a pretty combat heavy adventure too. Once they get into the ramparts, i think every room has a combat encounter in it. I wanted to get them through in at least 2 days so some of the lesser combat encounters i just made into skill challenges, and just kinda skimmed through it, like yeah ok you kill all the Gnomes or what ever, next room. But just so people dont think i turned it into a cake walk, I also modified the last battle some too and gave that guy alot more hit points to drag that battle out a little more. All in all i think every one had a good time, which is what counts. So yeah it could take awhile longer to get through it if you wanted it to, or if the players are really playing it up in character and talking to everyone they meet.
#3 Mr_Miscellany Dec 15, 2009 15:48:14	:SPOILERS: Hello Ejl and welcome to the Realms! Scepter Tower took my group about 12 sessions to complete. They did some roleplaying in the monastery and with the camps outside the tower itself, but skipped the ramparts and the catacombs. Instead they managed to open the front door of the Scepter Tower and stroll right in. Once inside they went up a few levels, then down to the lower levels, then back up again to the top to complete the tower. I "sieged" the players by having the outside camps all join forces to try and enter through the front door like the players did. The siege never did get in, but it kept the players inside. ;) OK, general advice: The way adventure book two split up room descriptions and read-aloud text into two parts drove me insane. Super crappy adventure design. Anyway, I ended up attaching a bookmark to page 34 to remind me to start there, then move to the specific page an encounter was on, so I wouldn't skip any text or forget about treasure. The encounters inside the tower were to me a little too repetitive. Level after level it seems like there's nothing but Ettercaps, Gnomes, Dark Creepers, Deathjump Spiders and Kobolds. If your players don't mind this and like the combat, don't change anything. If they do start to complain, you can always use the DMG and the Monster Manual to change things up, which is what I did. Some changes I made included substituting Shadar-Kai warriors for Ettercaps, so the players could have an opportunity to realize sooner that someone was in charge of the tower. I also used a Shadar-Kai witch as Thoran's estranged consort (I put her in encounter T9: Master Arcanist's Quarters), then I moved Thoran upstairs to the very top level of the tower and surrounded him with an honor guard of undead wights (former shadar-kai warrios committed to serving Thoran in death as well as life). If your players skip any part of the adventure like mine did, you can always bring that skipped part to the players, if it suits your needs. For example, since my players skipped Barthus and his undead minions, I moved Barthus to area T1 at the base of the tower and had him take it over. Then for areas T1 and T2 I reduced by 2/3 the number of Ettercaps and changed them all to undead created by Barthus. I described them as multi-armed Undead Ettercaps cobbled together from Ettercap corpses, and used the regular stats for Zombie Hulks found on page 275 of the Monster Manual to run them. I left T3 alone to create a situation where the gnomes were basically all that was left of Thoran's forces to hold off the advance of Barthas and his undead. I made the large double door between T3 and T2 into a sort of clockwork door/skill challenge for the players to open. It was this door -and not the gnomes- that kept Barthas and his undead out of the rest of the tower. Best of luck Ejl and please let us know how it goes for you!
#4 Aegeri Dec 16, 2009 4:46:22	It depends on how fast your PCs are in the tactical combat and how much roleplaying they want to do. There are lots of opportunities for roleplaying in this module if you want them, especially if you start from level 1 and build some encounters into the game with Loudwater initially. I found this module took about 4 sessions to complete, with at least one of those being very roleplay orientated and with the party being pretty tactically minded.
#5 Mr_Miscellany Dec 16, 2009 19:29:36	I found this module took about 4 sessions to complete, Did you run 12 hours sessions or something? :P
#6 Aegeri Dec 17, 2009 4:47:41	I removed some of the uninteresting encounters from the module and combined some, changed things around. Even so, I still ran a large amount of the adventure as written, but the party didn't waste a lot of time after the roleplaying and the combats weren't very difficult with the party I had. They also happened upon heading to the Rampants very early on, which saved a lot of time in the module. Oddly they did end up butchering the friendly adventurers over a rather simple misunderstanding - amusing enough in itself.
#7 sdlorac Jan 09, 2010 18:49:47	I am in the middle of this module right now and have had about 5 sessions so far - we did a lot of role playing around the Monastery and had some interaction with the seekers around the ruins, especially since a couple of the weaker characters seemed unable to survive for more than one or two encounters without massive rest. It has picked up lately but I find too that the separation of description and encounters drives me crazy - I have started scanning the pages and then cutting pieces into the spreadsheet I use to run the battles - makes it all very compact. I anticipate the rest of the module will take another 3 or 4 sessions.
#8 Mr_Miscellany Jan 09, 2010 20:43:06	Hey a spreadsheet is a good idea. Wish I'd have thought of that. My group only roleplayed opposite one group of seekers (the Dragonborn) and didn't interact with many of the patrons at the Monastery. I kind of wish they had, though. One of the better parts of this adventure was the setup for RP opportunities.