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Post by Scott on Jun 10, 2007 15:27:51 GMT -5
I think this is going to be the next campaign I run. I ran this series way back in the day. I was 12 or 13 at the time, and like most of the adventures I was a part of back then, we really didn't know what we were doing. Now I feel I have a firm grasp on the system, and have some players that are still pretty new and haven't played many of the old adventures (just the few I've DMed for them), so I'm really looking forward to this. The players will be doing some Greyhawk Castle dungeon crawling for a bit to get two of the characters a little more experience, and then it's off to the Steading.
Scott
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Post by gantry on Jun 21, 2007 2:16:29 GMT -5
It always seems that last years DMing was the worst you ever did. I was fortunate to use those adventures after having alot of Dming practice.
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Post by Scott on Jun 22, 2007 9:52:49 GMT -5
Does anybody know where I can get .pdf copies of the D series? Mine seem to be missing. Last time I remember seeing them was when we were doing the ToEE/D series comparison on my old boards, and I've moves since then.
Scott
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Post by GRWelsh on Jun 24, 2007 18:00:27 GMT -5
I have tried to email you D1-2, but it times out -- file too big. If you want, I can burn you a CD with the GDQ series on it. I have it in the format of G1-3, D1-2, D3 and Q1. I also have other modules, the core rule books, World of Greyhawk boxed set, and Original D&D booklets and supplements, and Chainmail -- all on pdf.
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Post by Scott on Jul 30, 2013 14:17:53 GMT -5
After the face-to-face campaign for this never came together, I started running it for my cousin online. The jump in the difficulty from G1 to G2 is huge. There are a lot of giants in G1, but it seems like it was set up so that a party has a good chance of sneaking in and eliminating a large portion of the giants before they know what's going on. Jump to G2. A good chance that a party will have several encounters before they even see a giant, and the giants are much more spread out, and should show up in waves. The party I am running for fought yetis, had two random encounters with ogres, fought the winter wolves, the remorhaz, the white dragons, and the two white puddings before they saw their first frost giant. When the had their first encounter, it was in the area 16-19 complex with 18 frost giants seperated into groups with a loop around option. The party beat the giants, but limped back to their cave/base with no attack spells left, and two dead henchmen. And that was just the first giant encounter.
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Post by GRWelsh on Jul 31, 2013 14:37:13 GMT -5
I agree each module gets exponentially harder. By the time players get to G3, they have to fight fire giants who are using smart tactics since they are assumed to be advised by the Drow. And then the players have to fight the Drow and all of their spell abilities. Those darkness and silence spells are brutal.
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Post by Scott on Jul 31, 2013 15:09:10 GMT -5
Hopefully he learned a lsson about conserving spells and avoiding useless encounters. He wasted a ton of spells on the white puddings. The frost giant encounter could have been the end.
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Post by Scott on Aug 1, 2013 14:22:40 GMT -5
Generally, when I DM, I roll a wandering monster roll every time fireworks magic is used, lightning bolt, fireballs, etc. Maylin has drawn a lot of attention to the party this way. On the most recent foray into the Rift, he's been more conservative. He stocked up on hold monster spells, and has been moving up enough to use his rope of entanglement. I was expecting a big showdown close to the entrance the next time they entered the Rift. I had the giants set up an ambush close to the entrance. After one round, one giant would run in and alert the Rift. In this case the giants surprised the party, which I think ended up working in the party's favor, since the distance of the encounter is much shorter. After the surprise, the party won initiative, and Maylin held the giant running to alert his fellows before he got very far. The other three giants were quickly, and quietly, dealt with, and the party is now back in the Rift.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 1, 2013 14:56:03 GMT -5
Any slipping and sliding going on near the cliffs with the icy paths?
I remember this being a big problem-area when I ran this back in the day.
Something else I remember: fireballs creating steam-clouds and fog.
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Post by Scott on Aug 1, 2013 15:09:37 GMT -5
So far they haven't had any fights on the edge of the Rift, and they haven't done anything to inspire me to check. Maylin is big on lightning bolts, not so much fireballs. I think there was one fireball cast, but I didn't have any of the steam/fog effects come into play. It was pretty far range, cast at some reinforcements that were approaching a melee in process.
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Post by Scott on Aug 1, 2013 15:18:02 GMT -5
The giants' boulders have been the major threat so far. And Maylin hasn't been very good at conserving spells. he's also been guilty of pushing it a little too far when his spells are running low.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 5, 2013 13:21:58 GMT -5
Too bad we never got to continue this in a live game.
When do you think you'll be running a live game again?
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Post by Scott on Aug 5, 2013 14:32:18 GMT -5
Yeah, I was hoping to run this series face to face. Especially my alternate ending with the EEG.
I'd still like to make Ray's games, but finding time gets harder and harder with the kids all involved with different things and Liana working and going to school now too. I'll be on vacation next week, When I get back, I'll need to try finding a way to squeeze some game time into my schedule.
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Post by Scott on Aug 6, 2013 7:08:41 GMT -5
Since I never really had the chance to do it, I'd still like to run a Greyhawk Dungeon sty;e campaign. DM at least one PC to the bottom. Keep the campaign confined to an area not much bigger than the East Mark for a while.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 6, 2013 7:43:07 GMT -5
You had the chance to do it... We were close to doing that a couple of times.
The party with Grash, Muskrat and Zheewhiz did the Dark Chateau, and were about to move onto Castle Zagyg next, but then got sidetracked into Gaxmoor.
Another short-lived party explored the Mouths of Madness and died there after being filled with kobold javelins.
My fighter Trast went into your Greyhawk Dungeon once with your cousin and nephew.
And most recently, the "woodland adventurers" group went in after a dark druid.
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Post by Scott on Aug 6, 2013 11:59:32 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm never really comfortable DMing Eric and those guys for that type of campaign. I feel compelled to be more story driven.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 6, 2013 13:00:08 GMT -5
You're right. Eric's eyes glaze over in dungeon crawls. Mark seems ambivalent about them. I actually enjoy them, as well as purely tactical scenarios. I don't think every game needs to be heavy on story or role playing. Pure dungeon exploration is a perfectly valid form of AD&D.
I remember when I first got the DIABLO video game, around 1996. What I loved so much about it was that it was pure dungeon exploration. It even had a random dungeon layout generator, so that you didn't have to play through the exact same map every time. However, the levels were always the same. The story stuff was extremely minor -- sometimes you'd get a quest involving some item in the dungeon. The dungeon was divided up into four sections, each that had four levels: dungeons, catacombs, caves and Hell. It was like the DMG and old time Geomorphs, which had the same progression, and even had Demon Princes and Arch Devils on the encounter tables for the deepest levels...
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Post by Scott on Aug 6, 2013 13:43:48 GMT -5
I'm a fan of both styles, but I've never got to run an OD&D style campaign, and I've heard so many cool stories from Gary's game. I think when I start DMing again I'll just be clear about the style and whoever's interested can join in.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 7, 2013 7:53:11 GMT -5
I think that's the best way to go, just set the expectations up front. There are many that would enjoy this style of game, like Brian, myself and probably a few others. Even Eric might be more accepting of it if he knew up front that is what you had in mind, because after all, he loves tactical tabletop games like Heroclix.
I always wanted to ask EGG if there was a gestational time period, when D&D was still more like a board game or tabletop war game, and how long did that last? For example, movement rates hardly ever seem to figure into the game nowadays, except abstractly and comparatively. But 'board game'-like D&D would have been more like the old DUNGEON! game or even a bit like Heroclix. It would have been more about being good at tactics, intelligent movement of figures, solid working knowledge of range, area of effect and duration of spells, etc. Those are all of the nuts and bolts skills that "RPGers" are often lacking in, nowadays.
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Post by Scott on Aug 7, 2013 11:51:12 GMT -5
It would seem that period didn't last very long, For EGG at least. According to Gronan, for all his mini background, and all the rules he included, Gary never played a mini, or board game style of D&D. He never used minis. It was all in his head. He would sometimes sit where the players couldn't even see him, just hear his voice. Dave Arneson, on the other hand, was a big fan of using minis during his games.
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